CHALLENGING HEALTH INEQUALITIES - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2021 - #CHOOSETOCHALLENGE - PUBLIC POLICY PROJECTS

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CHALLENGING HEALTH INEQUALITIES - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2021 - #CHOOSETOCHALLENGE - PUBLIC POLICY PROJECTS
International Women’s Day 2021

 Challenging
 Health
 Inequalities

                                                             8th March 2021
                                                               (13.00-16.30)

Public Policy Projects
28 Queen Street,
London EC4R 1BB
E: taome.jennings@publicpolicyprojects.com T:0745425522

                                                          #ChooseToChallenge
CHALLENGING HEALTH INEQUALITIES - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2021 - #CHOOSETOCHALLENGE - PUBLIC POLICY PROJECTS
Contents
 1. What is Public Policy Projects?
 2. International Women’s Day 2021
 3. About this Event
       a. Session 1: Reproductive Healthcare
       b. Session 2: Gender, Aging & Health
       c. Session 3: Racial Disparities in Women’s
          Healthcare
 4. Timetable and Audience

                                                     #ChooseToChallenge
#ChooseToChallenge

     What is Public Policy Projects?

      Public Policy Projects (PPP) is a subscription-based policy institute that offers practical
      policy analysis and development within the UK.

      PPP is independent and cross-party, bringing together public and private sector leaders,
      investors, policymakers and commentators with a common interest in producing
      actionable insights for future public policy.

      PPP produces reports, white papers and due diligence for local, national and regional
      governments, the NHS, private and public/third sector organisations. As an institute, PPP
      regularly organises webinars, roundtables, conferences and facilitates meetings with our
      expert policy board including Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell, Baroness Nicola Blackwood and
      Stephen Hammond MP.

                                          What We Do
                                          PPP is a cross-sector, global leader in healthcare, life
                                          sciences, med-tech, social care, infrastructure and global
                                          economics policy development. PPP produces a series of
                                          national and international policy publications including
                                          State of the Nation Reports, industry white papers and
                                          due diligence advising government, public/third sector
                 POLICY                   organisations and private companies.

                                          PPP provides policy-led news, insight and analysis to its
                                          global audience through a series of sector specific
                                          publications. Bringing together insights generated through
                                          policy development and exclusive editorial features, PPP
                                          offers its network an unparalleled perspective on the
                                          cutting-edge developments in healthcare, infrastructure
               PUBLISHING                 and global economics.

                                         PPP hosts a range of physical and virtual events bringing
                                         together experts and senior thought leaders from across the
                                         world. Through conferences, bi-monthly breakfast meetings,
                                         virtual breakfast webinars, seminars and roundtables, PPP
                                         offers a forum for debate and the development of
                                         actionable insights across a range of sectors.
                 EVENTS
International Women’s Day 2021

 International Women’s Day is a global day dedicated
 to the celebration of women’s social, economic, cultural
 and political achievements.

 Celebrated annually on 8th March, International
 Women’s Day focuses on:

   -   Celebrating women’s achievements
   -   Raising awareness about women’s equality
   -   Campaigning for accelerated gender parity
   -   Fundraising for female-focused charities

                          The campaign theme for International Women’s
                                      Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge’.

                       “ A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re
                         all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all
                         day, every day. We can choose to challenge and call out
                         gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping. We can
                         choose to seek out and celebrate women’s
                         achievements. Collectively we can create an inclusive
                         and more gender-equal world. From challenge comes “
                         change, so let’s all choose to challenge.

                                  #ChooseToChallenge

                      For more information on the International Women’s Day 2021 campaign theme,
                      please visit internationalwomensday.com
#ChooseToChallenge

     About this Event
                                             International Women’s Day:
                                          Challenging Health Inequalities

       From challenge comes change. In celebration of International Women’s Day, Public
       Policy Projects (PPP) will be hosting a virtual conference entitled ‘Challenging Health
       Inequalities’, on Monday 8th March 2021.

       This virtual event will look at gendered health inequalities, with a view to producing
       actionable policy insights that can improve healthcare outcomes for all. Gender is a
       key determinant of health. Health conditions, health behaviours, service access, and
       exposure to health risks all vary considerably by sex and gender.

       The Covid-19 pandemic has put some health systems under immense pressure and
       stretched others beyond their capacity. Now more than ever, it is essential that we
       continue to assess whether the requirements of all patients are truly being
       met. Meeting the healthcare needs of all women is highly important and despite
       examples of best practice there is still much room for improvement.

       Using a solution-oriented approach, this event will explore gendered healthcare
       inequalities by looking at three key policy areas: reproductive health, gender and
       ageing, and racial disparities in women’s healthcare.

       A series of panel discussions with leading experts will unpick the complex relationship
       between gender and health, identify solutions for gender responsive change and
       propose an agenda for action.

       Following the event, PPP will produce a report outlining the emerging policy priorities
       of the conference. More specifically, this report will provide policy insights and analysis
       on how to best improve women’s access to reproductive healthcare, the importance
       of a gendered approach to healthy ageing and how best to implement effective
       strategies to eliminate racial inequities in healthcare.

       This will be available to read and download on the PPP Policy Library and the World
       Healthcare Journal (WHJ). WHJ is a globally facing publication, providing strategic
       insight into the development of policy and practice in international healthcare and life
       sciences. Available online and in print, WHJ provides opinion, news and intelligence for
       governments, healthcare providers and private organisations at a senior level covering
       all global markets, topics and sectors.
#ChooseToChallenge

                    Long Term Vision
                        Public Policy Projects is currently developing a long-term ‘State of the Globe’
                        policy project on the women’s preventative healthcare agenda, which hopes to
                        address the international gender inequities in women’s health data, research
                        and policy. This State of the Globe report will propose gender sensitive indicators
                        and implementation plans which aim to create a more equitable healthcare
                        landscape and will be launched at the Commission on the Status of Women
                        (CSW) in 2022.

                        Public Policy Projects’ International Women’s Day event will form part of this
                        series of high-level policy discussions on international women’s health over the
                        course of 2021-2022. Each session will integrate considerations towards gender
                        biases in research and data to identify and re-engineer elements of our
                        international health system in response to women’s needs.

                        This event combines the CSW 2021 priority theme, ‘women’s full and effective
                        participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of
                        violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women
                        and girls’ and the IWD 2021 priority theme ‘Choose to Challenge’. As such, each
                        panel session will challenge a pertinent health inequality and identify ways to
                        mobilise research, data and policy that will empower women and girls to
                        manage and make effective decisions about their own health.

Chair: Baroness Nicola Blackwood

Event Synopsis

The virtual conference will take place on 8th March 2021 (13.00-15.30).
Within this timeframe, PPP will host three panel events focusing on
key issues in global women’s health, as well as a short virtual
networking interlude for conference attendees and opening and
closing statements from our conference Chair.

Outline

Session 1: Reproductive Healthcare

Session 2: Gender, Aging & Health

Session 3: Racial Disparities in Women’s Healthcare

The emerging insights will feed into PPP’s long-term State of the
Globe report on women’s preventative healthcare. This session will
draw upon expert insight to outline the key areas of concern for
women’s health. This will further shape the research and policy
agenda for the year ahead. A report of this event will be published
after the conference and shared with the PPP network and
attendees.
Session 1: Reproductive Healthcare
Current criticism focusses on reproductive health services where providers are too often concerned
only with controlling women’s fertility. This has been reflected in poor communication of
information, a lack of cultural sensitivity and dehumanising treatment which itself has affected
women’s willingness to use the services.

Contraception has become widely available, meeting practical needs based on gender stereotypes,
but this fails to recognise women’s strategic interests. For example, to meet strategic needs, health
services would need to enable women to choose freely between a range of contraceptive methods,
to be educated on the functioning of their bodies and risks and rights related to childbirth and to
research and identify preventative strategies to promote their own wellbeing.

For example, the UK emergency abortion legislation, introduced on 31st March 2020, temporarily
introduced telemedicine to allow women to take both the first and second early medical abortion
pills at home, just like their Scottish and Welsh counterparts. Previously, women were required to
attend a registered clinic to obtain the first abortive pill (Mifepristone) under the supervision of a
doctor, then given the second pill (Misoprostol) to take at home 24-48 hours later. Under the
emergency abortion legislation, a woman will have medical advice over the phone and will receive
the pills in the post in discreet packaging. A recent review from the World Health Organisation
(WHO) found that 94-96 per cent of abortions carried out via telemedicine were complete,
matching completion rates of clinic-based care. This instance exemplifies how the pandemic has
forced a solution to the unjustified obstacles that women face with regards to accessing effective
reproductive healthcare which meets strategic needs.

Women’s access to at home reproductive health treatments should become the new normal,
permanently extending beyond the current social distancing concerns. Not only does this empower
patients to self-manage, but it also increases efficiency, innovation and accessibility. We must
mobilise research and data collection to explore the uses of telemedicine and other telehealth
services as a method of meeting women’s strategic health needs and reducing reproductive health
complications – a key determinant of global women’s health.

                                                      Panel Chair: Rt Hon Amber Rudd
                                                      Panel Speaker 1:
                                                      Clare Murphy – Chief Executive, British
                                                      Pregnancy Advisory Service

                                                      Panel Speaker 2:
                                                      Dr. Sue Mann – Medical Expert in Reproductive
                                                      Health, Public Health England

                                                      Panel Speaker 3:
                                                      TBC

                                                                          #ChooseToChallenge
Session 2: Gender, Aging & Health
 Information regarding the ways in which sex influences health in older age is inadequate. Indeed,
 surveillance data that includes sex and age-disaggregated data is limited with a lack of research
 on sex differences in the social determinants of health.

 This is important as women tend to live longer than men and, thus, typically have more interactions
 with the healthcare system in old age. While there are numerous longitudinal studies on ageing,
 these studies tend to have little or no gender analysis of the different impacts of health conditions
 and the social determinants of health on ageing women and men.

 An example of this is cardiovascular disease, which is the main killer of older people of both
 genders, yet, it is commonly talked about as a male disease with existing research and data
 prioritising the male body. As a result of this, many women, especially in low and lower middle-
 income countries are undiagnosed or only properly diagnosed in the late stages of the disease
 process. This is often due to the difference in clinical presentations. Women with heart disease tend
 to present with different symptoms than men and are consequently less likely to seek or to be
 provided with medical help. Since women are less likely to be tested for, and diagnosed with heart
 disease, the available data and clinical course data continue to be two areas that are under
 studied. In addition to the diagnostic limitations, the available treatment options continue to be
 tailored to men and, thus, are less suitable for women.

 The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into acute focus the urgent need for both governments and
 civil society to address the complex demographic shift of population ageing with strategic solutions
 and programmes. In order to do this successfully, there is a critical need to adopt a life-cycle
 approach to healthy ageing, with particular emphasis on women, that is firmly grounded in gender
 equality and human rights.

 2021 launches the Decade of Healthy Ageing as well as the Decade of Action to achieve the
 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the rest of the world, seeks to “build back better” from
 the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the moment has clearly arrived to transform the
 challenge of population ageing into opportunity. We must translate gender equality and human
 rights into practical strategies and approaches that ensure no older woman will ever be left behind.
 Policies and practices that support health and active ageing for all will benefit women as well as
 men.

                                           Panel Chair: Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan
                                           Panel speaker 1:
                                           Mary Manandhar, Demographic Change and Healthy
                                           Ageing team, WHO

                                           Panel speaker 2:
                                           Dr Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director, The Equality
                                           Trust

                                           Proposed Panel Speaker 3:
                                           Haitham Hamoda, Chairman, British Menopause Society

                                           Panel Speaker 4:
                                           Dr. Alison Giles, Associate Director for Healthy Ageing,
                                           Centre for Ageing Better and Public Health England

                                                                            #ChooseToChallenge
Session 3: Racial Disparities in Women’s Healthcare
 There is a very clear issue of racial inequality in women’s healthcare across the UK. Statistics
 show that black women in the UK are five times more likely to die during pregnancy than
 white women, while Asian women are twice as likely. Racial disparity is also evident in neonatal
 outcomes. Black, Asian and minority ethnic women are at an increased risk of having pre-term
 birth, still birth or neonatal death. This concerning pattern has also been observed in breast and
 cervical cancer diagnosis. For example, in the UK, black breast cancer patients have a higher
 mortality rate than white breast cancer patients.

 This issue is not unique to the UK and can be observed across the globe. The disparity in
 maternal mortality rates for African American women is documented as one of the greatest
 public health inequities in the United States. Studies have shown that health outcomes for
 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are damaged by institutional racism within
 Australian hospitals. Moreover, a report published by the WHO on women’s health and well-
 being in Europe documents how gender inequality intersects with ethnicity to undermine the
 ability of women to access health systems and receive equal treatment.

 The Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed the racial disparities in healthcare, with data
 published by the Office for National Statistics in early May showing that black people in
 England and Wales were approximately four times more likely than white people to die from
 Covid-19. This trend continues around the world, with patients from ethnic minority
 backgrounds disproportionately affected by Covid-19. The NHS has recognised a
 disproportionate mortality rate amongst its black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) frontline
 workers and patients who have contracted Covid-19 and have called for better representation
 in decision making.

 Where there has been more considered attention to racial inequalities in health and healthcare,
 it has been argued that policy and practice approaches have lacked consistency and frequently
 served to stereotype and stigmatise minority ethnic communities. Identifying and
 implementing effective strategies to eliminate racial inequities in health status and care should
 be made an international priority.

 There is also a clear need for a more diverse and expansive collection of ethnicity data in the
 healthcare setting. Indeed, accurate data on ethnicity is essential for informing policy makers,
 and public health professionals about the occurence, prevalence and outcomes of specific
 conditions in population subgroups. This is evident when presented by the emerging evidence
 that some ethnic groups are associated with an increased incidence of certain cancers along
 with the disparities in access to services.

                                   Panel Chair: (TBC)
                                   Panel Speaker 1:
                                   Dr. Christine Ekechi, Co-Chair of Race Equality Taskforce,
                                   Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)

                                   Panel Speaker 2:
                                   Tracey Bignall, Senior Policy and Practice Officer, Race
                                   Equality Foundation

                                   Panel Speaker 3:
                                   Dr Hina Shahid, Head of Muslim Doctors Association

                                   Panel Speaker 4:
                                   Nadia Bukhari, UCL Global Pharmacy Ambassador and
                                   Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

                                                                                #ChooseToChallenge
Timetable

13.00-13.05: Chair’s Welcome

13.05-13.15: Keynote Presentation

13.15-14.20: Gender, Ageing & Health

14.20-15.15: Reproductive Health

15.15-16.20: Racial Disparities in Women’s Healthcare

16.20-16.30: Closing Call to Action

                     Projected Audience
                     -   Public Health England
                     -   NHS
                     -   Department of Health and Social Care
                     -   Senior Executives of health institutions
                     -   Charities
                     -   Students/Academics
                     -   Clinical staff
                     -   International health organisations

                                                    #ChooseToChallenge
                                                     #ChooseToChallenge
#ChooseToChallenge

Public Policy Projects
28 Queen Street,
London EC4R 1BB
E: taome.jennings@publicpolicyprojects.com T:0745425522
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