Gender

This post was originally published on VITAL, the blog of IntraHealth International.

In Bamako, Mali, last month, I sat in on a workshop about training health workers to comprehensively care for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. From the heated debates going on around the room—including when and if a husband has the right to beat his wife and whether or not the wife considers it acceptable—it was clearly a topic not often discussed openly.

In fact, this kind of training curriculum is unprecedented in Mali. Read more »

El Ministerio de Salud de El Salvador tiene a nivel nacional 111 almacenes y solo 2, son dirigidos por mujeres. Yesenia Aguirre de Barahona es una de esas dos mujeres, se desempeña como guardalmacén de la Región Paracentral. El almacén abastece 73 centros de salud para una población beneficiaria de 882,243 personas.

Graduada como Licenciada en Mercadotecnia, tiene 23 años trabajando en la cadena de suministros en el sistema de salud salvadoreño, y siete como guardalmacén de medicamentos. A pesar de que tiene una gran experiencia, se enfrenta a algunos desafíos debido a ser mujer en un papel por lo general ocupado por los hombres. Read more »

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Corinne Farrell recently sat down with Constance Newman, IntraHealth’s senior team leader for gender equality and health and a committed advocate for social justice, to discuss this year’s International Women’s Day theme of “connecting girls and inspiring futures.”

Asked how the International Women’s Day theme, Connecting girls, inspiring futures, relates to IntraHealth’s mission of empowering and supporting health workers, Constance Newman did not hesitate: “It’s about connecting girls to school and protecting women’s ties to the paid health workforce.”

Fifty-seven countries are experiencing crisis-level shortages of health workers. In many of these countries, health workers are predominantly female, particularly nurses, midwives, and community health workers. Many health workforce leaders question whether gender issues, such as discrimination, are really among the most pressing issues contributing to health workforce shortages. Based on her 25 years of experience, observation, reading, and research in global health and the health workforce, Newman feels the urgency to document the evidence that will put these questions to rest and stimulate action. “If you don’t have women entering the paid health workforce, and if they aren’t safe, secure, and satisfied in their jobs, you are not going to have the workforce that you need—one that’s diverse and robust enough to meet the health challenges in these countries.” Read more »

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Twenty years ago I arrived in Bamako, Mali, and discovered a capital city settling into relative calm following a military-led coup. My first images of Bamako were of cows, cars, and citizens grazing, grinding gears, and gridlocked on Bamako’s main artery through town—the Route de Koulikoro. 

One did not have to travel far on this road to experience the full spectrum of Malian culture and economy. Brand-new, shiny Land Rovers shared the road with bush taxis, mopeds, bikes, an occasional chicken, and many, many pairs of shuffling feet. Read more »