Government leaders, members of civil society, the UN, academia, and the private sector from around the world took part in the two-day virtual event Lives in the Balance, where they spoke out about the COVID-19 pandemic's devastation on women's, children's, and adolescents' health and unveiled time-bound commitments for focused action.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH), a multi-constituency partnership hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with the CORE Group, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, organised the Lives in the Balance event, which was attended by over 1000 global citizens.
Key Speakers included Anuradha Gupta, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Lopa Banerjee, Chief of the Civil Society Section at UN Women; Vandita Morarka Founder & CEO, One Future Collective, India besides Helen Clark - former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair of PMNCH, Mia Mottley - Prime Minister, Barbados, Michelle Bachelet - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Borge Brende - President, World Economic Forum, Jennifer Klein - Executive Director, White House Gender Policy Council, USA.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated underlying inequities, with vulnerable populations that are already living on the margins and are so often bereft of basic health services being hardest hit. The knock-on impact of the pandemic on childhood vaccination in lower income countries has been devastating, with millions of children missing out on timely, life-saving immunizations,” said Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
At the previous “Lives in the Balance” meeting in December 2020, ten national governments, including India, pledged $20.6 billion and issued statements outlining their national and ODA commitments to prioritise women's, children's, and adolescents' health in COVID-19 response plans. India had pledged $2 billion out of $20.6 billion with an enhanced focus on women, children, adolescents and the most vulnerable.
These pledges are in response to rising demand. Given that progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for women's, children's, and adolescents' health was already 20 percent behind schedule prior to the crisis, the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for targeted action for the most vulnerable.
A seven-point COVID-19 Call to Action, backed by PMNCH's 1,000-member platform, seeks to protect and prioritise the rights and health of women, children, and adolescents during the response and recovery from COVID-19. The Call aims to strengthen investment, policies, and services for the recovery of health services, as well as rights protection and future socioeconomic resilience.
The statements, which were in line with the PMNCH Call to Action, outlined a wide range of initiatives aimed at improving SRHR, gender equality, service quality, and adolescent health and well-being, among other things.
