September 24, 2024

Highlighting the Critical Role of Health Workers: Insights from Seed Global Health’s Panel at UNGA79

September 24, 2024

Highlighting the Critical Role of Health Workers: Insights from Seed Global Health’s Panel at UNGA79

As a Trustee of the Seed Global Health Board, I was pleased to observe the ‘Overlooked and Underfunded: The Crucial Role of Health Workers to meet the SDGs’ Fireside Chat and Panel, hosted by Seed at Goals House on the margins of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week 2024 and New York Climate Week.

With the World Health Organization estimating a shortfall of 15 million health workers globally, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, CEO Seed Global Health, and Dr. Austin Demy, Minister of Health and Sanitation for the Government of Sierra Leone, discussed and emphasised the importance of midwives in bringing down maternal mortality rates, as Seed Global Health premiered their short film showcasing how they are building the health workforce of the future, because health workers save lives.

A celebration of the health workforce, the following panel with Irene Atuhairwe, Seed Global Health, Crystal Lander, Pathfinder International, Alice Lin Fabiano, Johnson & Johnson, and Dr. Alaa Murabit, Gates Foundation discussed the need of highly skilled health workers now more than ever before, especially on the frontlines of defence to rapidly target against rates of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, pandemics, and climate-driven emergencies.

Investing in strong health systems, which means the health workforce, solves many of our most pressing challenges at once.

 

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