WHO, with the support of its donors and partners, recognizes women around the world who are receiving and providing essential health care. From performing vaccinations in remote areas to giving mental health care and advice in areas where it is considered taboo, the women featured in these WHO stories represent pillars of strength and hope in global health care.
From Derna, Libya comes a story of Dr Shaftar working to deliver urgent psychiatric help for survivors of the recent flood. A story of a mother in Ghana being treated for schizophrenia highlights the work of WHO and its partners working to improve access to mental health care services in Ghana.
In remote areas of Latin America, healthcare personnel trained in western medicine and traditional midwives are gathering in “knowledge dialogues” to improve coordination and cultivate trust within and outside the technical spaces.
We also share stories of women like Salma from South Sudan and Natalia from Ukraine who represent the many people living with noncommunicable diseases in emergency situations when they are forced to leave their homes and the care they depend on. Stories and videos from Lao PDR and Rwanda show women leaders facilitating WHO’s collaboration with partners to improve access to vaccinations and increase the number of screenings to eliminate viral infections like hepatitis C.
Salma’s path to recovery: Dealing with cancer postpartum in a refugee camp
Salma reflects on the challenges in accessing cancer care and surgery from a refugee camp in Athens. ©WHO
While pregnant with her first child, Salma and her husband fled the civil war in South Sudan. They landed in Athens, Greece where she gave birth at a maternity hospital. While at the hospital, doctors found a lump in her breast. Because she did not have a temporary social security number, she couldn’t get a biopsy.
She recounts how the National Public Health Organization (NPHO) staff working at the Schisto refugee and migrant camp in Athens liaised with and referred her to the nongovernmental organization, Medical Volunteers International (MVI), who supported Salma’s medical examinations. She was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer, but with MVI’s help she had a breast operation and acquired a temporary social security number to further her treatment.
Displacement triggers a heart attack: Natalia’s story of care
Ukrainian heart attack survivor thanks Moldovan doctors for life-saving treatment, after stress of displacement leads to dangerously high blood pressure. ©WHO
When the bombing began, Natalia, who lived with her daughter and her four grandchildren in Podilsk, Ukraine, were forced to leave her hometown and travel over 12 hours to Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.
“The night we decided to leave we came under heavy bombardment. We had to leave in such a hurry that my daughter didn’t have time to dress the 4 children. We didn’t have time to collect our belongings. I brought some of my medication, but not all of it,” she says of the medication she took after suffering a heart attack.
The stress of the journey, the situation in Ukraine, her continued concern for her family members and the difficulty of making a new life in a foreign country caused Natalia’s blood pressure to climb dangerously high, reaching 220/160 by the time she arrived at the hospital where she was operated on immediately.
“I am so grateful that I received the same treatment as a Moldovan citizen. The doctors here saved my life.”
Traditional midwives: saving lives by combining the knowledge of ancestral and Western medicine
Maria Mercedes Muenala (on the left) and a group of traditional midwives from Otavalo, Ecuador receive training provided by PAHO on the use of biomedical tools to complement ancestral practices. ©WHO/PAHO
Since 2021, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), with the support of the Government of Canada, has been working with over a thousand traditional midwives in rural and remote communities in Latin America to provide them with knowledge of warning signs to help prevent maternal and neonatal deaths.
"Before, when they had abdominal pain, we thought it was just 'bad air'. We didn't investigate further, and the pregnant woman's condition worsened. With the knowledge we acquired, we can now identify gallbladder problems or even appendicitis. Diseases that, if they are not immediately treated, can be fatal," explains Mercedes Panamantamba, a traditional midwife in Ecuador.
"Midwives identify warning signs through all sounds emitted by the woman's body. But the technology of the Pinard stethoscope and the measuring tape facilitate the identification of warning signs at the right time, and that's where both types of medicine come together," says Lady Manuela Mosquera, one of the leaders of the Interethnic Association of Midwives in the Department of Chocó.
When knowledge transfer takes place in spaces of trust where the autonomy of traditional knowledge is respected it is possible to find common ground between western and ancestral medicine.
See the full story in Spanish and in English
Expanding and improving mental health care services in Ghana
©WHO
In 2021, Ghana was one of nine countries selected to be part of the WHO Director General’s Special Initiative for Mental Health. Through training of clinicians to detect, diagnose and treat mental health disorders early, Ghana is improving the quality of care offered patients at primary health care level.
More than 2.4 million people in Ghana are estimated to be living with various mental health conditions, 98% of them still lacking access to medication and to qualified service providers. The inadequacy of treatment, together with the associated stigma, means people often turn to spiritual healers, or shy away from any help whatsoever.
Diana Adom* is one of the many Ghanian individuals who is finally receiving the mental health care she has needed—in her case, medication for schizophrenia. “It was difficult for me to even come out of the room as people hurled insults at me. My children were mocked and called ‘children of a mad woman’,” she says.
Together with the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care, WHO has also supported Ghana to enhance the mental health and psychosocial support skills of 394 personnel, to strengthen available support systems in schools, at health facilities and in communities.
*Name changed to protect identity
Nurses like Josephine play a major role in eliminating hepatitis in Rwanda
Nurse Josephine Uwishooreye working in a primary health care center in Rwanda. ©WHO
Rwanda is one of seven countries worldwide that were assessed and selected in 2018 by WHO to pilot a program aimed at eliminating hepatitis. Rwanda is on track to reach its own target of achieving elimination of hepatitis C by 2024, surpassing the WHO’s 2030 target deadline.
After screening over 7 million people and treating 60,000 cases, the prevalence of hepatitis C in Rwanda dropped below 1%. Much of that success can be attributed to the many nurses who were trained to screen and treat straightforward cases at the primary health care level. Nurses like Marie Rose Kwitonda and Josephine Uwishooreye say the training has allowed them to help patients who would otherwise be waiting for a doctor.
“WHO has been alongside the government of Rwanda every step of the way since the launch of the national elimination plan in 2018,” says Dr Muhayimpundu Ribakare, WHO Rwanda’s programme officer for hepatitis.
See the full story or watch the video
Meet Dr Sumaya Shaftar providing urgent mental health support to flood-affected people in Derna, Libya
Mental health specialist Dr Sumaya Shaftar working to help survivors in Derma, Libya
When Storm Daniel struck Libya in September 2023, cities like Derna were devastated when dams collapsed in nearby mountains. The torrent of water released leveled entire city blocks and swept away whole families.
In response, WHO began working with local health authorities to set up mental health clinics staffed by specialists to help deeply traumatized survivors deal with grief, anxiety, and loss.
One such specialist is Dr Sumaya Shaftar who is based at a primary health care centre in Derna, Libya. “When I first entered Derna, it had been three weeks since the floods, and I saw some people reopening their shops and starting to move around the city to secure their necessities. But I didn’t see ordinary people on the streets. Instead, I saw bodies moving around with expressions that didn’t convey sadness, anger, joy, or any emotions. Their faces were expressionless.”
She says Libyan people are not accustomed to seeking mental health services. An additional challenge they face is one of transportation. The floods destroyed many roads, bridges and cars.
United States provides four mobile vaccination clinics to boost vaccination coverage in remote districts of Lao PDR
Chargée d’Affaires a.i. Michelle Y. Outlaw handed over four Toyota Landcruiser-based mobile vaccination clinics to Dr Souphaphone Sadettan, representative of Lao Ministry of Health. ©WHO/Soudaphone Viravongsa
A United States of America Government donation of four Toyota Landcruiser-based mobile vaccination clinics, for district health teams in Bokeo, Luangprabang, Phongsaly and Huaphanh Provinces, will dramatically improve access to vaccination and other outreach services for more than 300 remote villages.
These high-risk populations struggle with limited access to healthcare services. Healthcare workers face long distances, poor roads, flooding and mountainous terrain to reach these locations.
“I’m delighted to see these vehicles provided to help ensure that medical teams and healthcare services can get to where they are needed most, and reach the unreached,” said Acting WHO Representative Dr Otsu Satoko for Lao PDR.
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WHO thanks governments, organizations, and individuals who are contributing to the Organization’s work, with special appreciation for those who provide fully flexible contributions to maintain a strong, independent WHO.
Interethnic Association of Midwives in the Department of Chocó
Libyan Ministry of Health
Medical Volunteers International (MVI)
Midwives at the Municipal Autonomous Government of El Alto
National Public Health Organization (NPHO)
Canada
Ghana
Lao PDR
Rwanda
The United States of America
United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care