Multisector Initiative Launched to Mobilize a
“Care for the Family” Approach in Pakistan

EMPOWERMENT NETWORK

Multisector Initiative Launched to Mobilize a “Care for the Family” Approach in Pakistan

Newly-established Advisory Group to Advance Sustainable Projects that Scale Access to Healthcare by Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

(WASHINGTON, D.C. & LAHORE, PAKISTAN, JUNE 17, 2021) Key leaders and decision makers from the private sector, governments, development finance institutions, multi-laterals, investors and donors took a joint step forward on a global health collaboration today by announcing the launch of an Advisory Board to sustainably grow access to healthcare in emerging markets.  Members of the Advisory Board will work together to shape and deploy projects using a “Care for the Family” approach that focuses on mobilizing and empowering women entrepreneurs to participate in health and economic systems beginning in Pakistan.

Discussions took place on the margins of the 74th World Health Assembly and the 47th G7 Leaders’ Summit, where global health and development leaders affirmed commitments to protecting and investing in the health workforce, and placed a specific emphasis on growing opportunities for women in emerging markets, including by investing $15B over the next two years to help women access jobs and build resilient businesses.

“Empowering women to become entrepreneurs for health is key to unlocking the social and economic potential in emerging markets,” said Colin Buckley, General Counsel and Head of External Affairs, CDC Group, UK.  “It’s incumbent on all stakeholders to align efforts and work together to support these opportunities and help make them ready for investment”.

“We see how philanthropic and private capital can work together to generate lasting health improvements for women, girls and the rest of society,” added Phyllis Costanza, Head of Social Impact and CEO UBS Optimus Foundation.  “Following the pandemic, we can create a better world even as budgets tighten and demands for efficiency and transparency intensify by reimagining the power of investing to support the SDGs.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pressures on the health workforce of emerging market countries, many of which were already facing large disparities in access, with some estimates of the shortfall topping 18 million by 2030.  By collaborating and aligning support for projects that focus on cross-training and enhancing skill sets using a “Care for the Family” approach, the partners will mobilize female health workers to deliver key family primary care services, including broader health promotion, awareness/literacy, prevention, diagnosis and early identification of challenges/referrals related to maternal health, nutrition, non-communicable diseases (such as women’s cancers), pandemic preparedness, and conditions such as viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. 

“In communicable diseases such as viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, pathways to care can be very complicated.  Implementation of patient-centric, effective and sustainable primary care service delivery is key,” said Dr. Harald Nusser, Head of Gilead Sciences’ Global Patient Solutions Unit that works to reverse health inequities and overcome barriers to treatment and care in low- and middle-income countries. “Activating a healthcare workforce that is already serving communities, giving them the tools and resources that they need and helping them to become self-dependent has the potential to become a model for resource limited countries. It is worth our collective time and investment to find scalable and lasting approaches.”

For many, female care workers, attendants and midwives may be the only healthcare service providers that see the family, often providing services directly within the home setting.  These women health workers not only play a critical role in delivering maternal health, but also shift tasks and alleviate the burden on other parts of the healthcare system, ensuring the timely delivery of effective interventions that meet the needs of patients, families and communities.

“Statistics consistently show that women make an outsized contribution to job creation, economic growth and community prosperity in emerging markets,” added Jasper Klapwijk, Business Development Manager, FMO.  Investing in women for health is an investment in sustainable growth in these markets.”

“Digital and financial inclusion of women is a key foundation of social and economic prosperity,” said Mohammad Ali Ibrahim, Head Marketing & Communications, Mobilink Microfinance Bank, Pakistan’s largest digital bank.  “Women comprise nearly 49% of Pakistan’s population. By providing them access to the necessary financial services to become successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, and to access basic healthcare and other essential services, we can help build sustainable communities and contribute towards the economic progress of the country”.

“Properly financed, empowered, trained and equipped, midwives and female health workers have the potential to positively transform access to health care in Pakistan for a range of conditions from maternal health to viral hepatitis,” said Osman Waheed, CEO, Ferozsons Laboratories Limited, a leading manufacturer of therapeutics, health related products and medical devices in Pakistan.  “This sort of cross-sectoral collaboration on projects is exactly what is needed to sustainably scale solutions that mobilize women entrepreneurs for health, address gender inequity and grow access to quality primary healthcare”.

Members of the Advisory Board will apply a triple lens of policy, financing and health/technical expertise with the help of a secretariat, to align and mobilize grants, concessional capital, impact and strategic investments, technical and in-kind assistance, as well as ambassadorial support to shape a sustainable pipeline of “Care for the Family” pilots.  The Advisory Board is made up of representatives from development agencies, development finance institutions, investors, multi-laterals, governments and global and local private sector partners.

“Now more than ever, global health leaders and decision makers see the need to invest in health workforce, particularly the female health workforce.  By working together, we can make a sustainable impact and significantly improve health, social and economic outcomes in the region,” added Joanne Manrique, President, The Center for Global Health and Development.

The Advisory Board will meet in Rome in the margins of the G20 Summit in Fall 2021 to discuss priorities and scaling of immediate projects, as well as consider support for medium-term initiatives over the following year.