Uhuru in Canada for global conference on women and girls

President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Tuesday join over 8,000 delegates from more than 165 countries at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

The three day conference will explore how power can drive or hinder progress and change for a more gender equal world.

GENDER EQUALITY

The conference, held every three years, is a leading global advocate that champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women.

President Kenyatta will speak at the opening press conference of the event. Other leaders who will speak are President Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia and leaders in gender equality such as Katja Iversen, President/CEO, Women Deliver; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women; Natasha Wang Mwansa, Women Deliver Young Leader; and Maryam Monsef, the Minister of International Development and Minister Women and Gender Equality, Canada.

Nairobi County Woman Representative Esther Passaris is also expected at the event.

Also at the global event will be a Kenyan community health worker, Margaret Kilonzo from Kibera, Nairobi.

Githinji Gitahi, global CEO, Amref Health Africa will share highlights of a multi-country study in Africa on the role community health workers in increasing access to family planning services.

The speakers will examine power and how it drives, or hinders, progress and change particularly around women and girls’ issues.

This echoes a recent study by the Lancet, the British Medical Journal, shows health progress is threatened by neglect of gender.

The research exposes failures by governments and health institutions to make progress towards gender equality, despite compelling evidence on the impact of gender on health.

For instance, women and men were found to experience different exposures to disease and risk factors that adversely influence their health.

“These gender-driven differences intersect with other related inequalities (age, class, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, and sexuality) and amplify negative effects on health and health systems,” shows the Lancet report on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health.