CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

The status of women’s health has not reached its full potential on a worldwide scale, and women continue to be faced with unique barriers that limit their ability to pursue quality health services. In Africa, women are presented with significant public health challenges, notably the threat of cervical cancer which is most common in women living with HIV/AIDS (WHO).

In the spring of 2021, the Center for Global Health and Development launched the Women’s Health and Empowerment Network (WHEN) to address the many challenges presented to women’s health and economic opportunities worldwide. WHEN recognizes importantly that there remain numerous and significant possibilities to address this reality, simply by uniting the current efforts being made by financial, development and political sectors.

This high-level strategic roundtable discussion marked the launch of the WHEN Sustainable Financing Taskforce, a specialized working group dedicated to designing and deploying innovative financing solutions for investments into women’s health, women’s economic empowerment, and large scale development. The taskforce provides an innovative solution for addressing the unique health and economic barriers encountered by women.

SESSION SPECIFICS

  • Identified current women- and health-focused initiatives taking place on the ground in Africa that can be scaled through sustainable finance.
  • Developed a strategic plan for investing in the health sector in Africa to improve women’s access to healthcare and economic opportunities.
  • Catalyzed investments into ongoing projects focused on women’s health and economic empowerment in Africa and identified the role of governments, NGOs, and investors.

Creating Sustainable Financing Solutions for Women’s Health in Africa

Presented by The Women’s Health and Empowerment Network
Video - Full Session
Question/Answer Session

Conference Speaker Videos

Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong

Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong

U.S Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy

 QUESTION: What are PEPFAR‘s priorities through to 2030? How will PEPFAR prioritize women and girls and what partnerships do you consider critical to success in this area? 

 

Runa Alam

Runa Alam

Co-founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Development Partners International (DPI)

QUESTION: How can private equity firms such as DPI work closely with US PEPFAR and the government partners and private sector entities that are present here today?

 

H.E. Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq

H.E. Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq

Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority

QUESTION: How did the partnership between Varian and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority come about, and how can we think differently when designing innovative financing partnerships and structures?

 

H.E. Her Excellency Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu

H.E. Her Excellency Dr. Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu

Board Member of UICC and Founder of Medicaid Cancer Foundation

QUESTION: Given our previous speaker’s comments about the need for ticket items to be bridged to make gender lens investments compatible, could you please tell us about the innovative financing vehicles that exist in the women’s cancers space, and what can be done to bridge investment gaps here?

 

Dr. Atul Gawande

Dr. Atul Gawande

Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID

QUESTION: USAID has done a lot of investments into primary care through public and private partnerships. What advice can you give to our women investors and philanthropists who are currently actively brokering these partnerships? 

 

Sonia Jordan-Kirwan

Sonia Jordan-Kirwan

Gender Finance Lead, British Investment International

QUESTION: Given the extensive infrastructure that BII integrates into their investment planning, could you please provide some background into that and how the partners in the room and online can work effectively with BII to bridge and streamline impactful gender lens investments?

 

Cristina Niculescu

Cristina Niculescu

Life Science Investment Specialist at European Investment Bank (EIB)

QUESTION: How can the European Investment Bank and other investment banks work with partners, including those present here, to catalyze additional investments that will empower women and young girls?

 

DR. TED TRIMBLE

DR. TED TRIMBLE

Senior Advisor for Global HPV and Cervical Cancer Control Office of the Director, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services

QUESTION: How can we work together as partners to leverage grant capital to create blended financing instruments? How should this work be integrated into the next steps for our upcoming summit in June on women’s health with a focus on technical assistance and development finance?

 

Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire

Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire

Honorable Minister of Health Nigeria

QUESTION: What is being done for women‘s health in Nigeria? How are new innovative financing vehicles being leveraged to maximize impact for women‘s health in the country?

 

Stephanie Sassman

Stephanie Sassman

Portfolio Leader on Women‘s Health at Roche

QUESTION: How can companies like Roche work with WHEN to drive increased access for women and girls to critical health products and services?

 

Monisha Ashok

Monisha Ashok

Associate Director at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

QUESTION: What is US DFC’s strategy in terms of gender investments in health?

 

Vinay P. Saldanha

Vinay P. Saldanha

Director at UNAIDS U.S. Liaison Office in Washington D.C.

QUESTION: What are the implementation projects and sustainable financing projects that we can look at to grow and scale with women’s leadership at the head of the table to address HIV/AIDS?

 

MICHEL SIDIBÉ

MICHEL SIDIBÉ

African Union Special Envoy at African Medicines Agency

QUESTION: How do you see the best path forward to form partnerships between our women investors, philanthropists, private equity firms and governments? What role can governments play within these partnerships?

 

Ambassador John Simon

Ambassador John Simon

Founding Partner of Total Impact Capital

QUESTION: Can you tell us more about the creative thinking that went into the creation of the Transform Fund? 

 

Ann Wyman

Ann Wyman

Senior Director at AfricInvest

QUESTION: We have several pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies in the room and online that are prioritizing partnerships to deploy their funds. Can you tell us a bit about AfricInvest’s investments into health in Africa?

 

Joanna Sickler

Joanna Sickler

Vice President at Health Policy and External Affairs Roche

QUESTION: At Roche you are thinking critically and interestingly in terms of innovative financing, could you explain this thinking a bit more as well as how Roche plans to grow and scale their existing work?

 

Dr. Olumide Okunola

Dr. Olumide Okunola

Senior Health Specialist at The World Bank

QUESTION: What is the World Bank’s thinking in terms of innovative financing for gender women’s cancers?

 

Chris Toth

Chris Toth

Chief Executive Officer at Varian Inc.

QUESTION: How did the partnership between Varian and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority come about, and how can we think differently when designing innovative financing partnerships and structures?

 

Grace Muzila

Grace Muzila

Secretary for Development and Budget at the Botswanan Ministry of Finance and Economic Development

QUESTION: How can some of the partners here work to support existing initiatives taking place in Botswana to address women’s health and empowerment in the country?