GE Healthcare and Women in Global Health – a movement that strives for greater gender equality in global health leadership – are honouring two Bangladeshi professors along with seven other women in an effort to celebrate their commitment to and achievements in global health at this year’s Heroines of Health awards at the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Prof Sabina Faiz Rashid and Prof Malabika Sarker are being honoured as 2018 Heroines of Health for their work with vulnerable populations in Bangladesh, writes GE Healthcare.
In 2013, Sabina became the first woman to be appointed as dean of the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health and Malabika is the first woman to serve as the school’s director of research.
According to GE Healthcare, the duo’s collaboration is key to their leadership and is inspiring the next generation of global health workers. Their research has offered the world “invaluable learning on topics such as community health workers, sexual and reproductive health, non-communicable disease, urban health, health systems, HIV – and beyond.”
According to GE Healthcare, Heroines of Health seeks to highlight women’s significant contribution to healthcare, as women continue to make up a comparatively small percentage of global health leadership, despite holding 70% of jobs in global healthcare. Ministries of health, particularly in developing markets, are looking “to improve both access to healthcare and maternal and infant health outcomes and female leaders have been shown to be more likely to support the development of health facilities, antenatal care, and immunization programs, leading to outcomes as direct as improving infant mortality.”
The awards emphasize the major impact women have on healthcare “by telling the stories of the women who work tirelessly every day to improve global health with tremendous dedication and passion.”
The other seven women who qualified for the award are: Yemen’s Dr Najla Al-Sonboli, Ireland’s Claire Cahill, South Sudan’s Anne Kinuthia, Cameroon’s Professor Rose Leke, Kenya’s Christine Mataza, Uganda’s Margaret Nakanjakko, and Canada’s Audra Renyi.