Empowering Women and Girls Globally through PATH's Core Health Initiatives

November 13, 2018 by Martha Brady, MS

PATH'S Core: Empowering Women and Girls Worldwide

At PATH, our mission is centered on supporting the health and well-being of women and girls worldwide. As Martha Brady, Director of our Sexual and Reproductive Health program explns, empowering half the global population to lead healthier, more productive lives defines not only our current generation but future ones as well.

PATH partners globally to one is left behind in the rapid technological changes, economic development, and societal shifts that are occurring worldwide. We m to uplift women and girls by addressing key areas essential for their empowerment:

1 Education: No society has been able to escape poverty or foster economic growth without providing education opportunities for women and girls.

2 Access to resources: Women are more likely than men to save, sp, and invest resources such as jewelry, livestock, cash, digital currency in efforts to support the health and well-being of their children and entire families.

3 Sexual and reproductive health care: Our focus lies on empowering women and girls to have control over their own sexual reproductive lives, regulating fertility, and deciding when, where, and with whom they will have children. It's crucial for healthy family dynamics and thriving societies alike.

Unfortunately, despite progress made in many parts of the world, more than 200 million women are unable to access modern contraceptives due to lack of avlability or cultural, economic barriers as well as non-responsive healthcare systems.

This highlights the need to address three pivotal levers for empowering women:

1 Innovation: Transformative tools like DMPA-SC an all-in-one contraceptive and novel devices such as microarray patches are being developed in collaboration with private sectors to widen the protection options avlable to women.

2 Education: We're partnering with local women's groups in Uganda to bring reproductive health information into community-led forums. In Senegal, we're trning healthcare providers to better understand their clients' needs while empowering women with knowledge and skills necessary for advocating for their own health.

3 Self-care: The concept of self-care is gning momentum as a crucial area where individuals, families, communities manage and mntn health indepently or with support from healthcare providers. We strive to strategically apply this concept in sexual reproductive health contexts.

These innovations are powerful tools that can lead us closer to equity in sexual reproductive health and rights for women and girls. It's essential to secure government commitment, funding, and development partners' support to achieve ambitious goals.

A Choice Between Two Paths

We face two distinct paths today with differing outcomes:

Path One: We invest strategically in women and girls prioritizing innovation and access to safe, effective affordable healthcare. We realize health equity as a right for half the global population.

Path Two: We accept the status quo; inaction stalls progress or even reverses it. The future of the world's most powerful agents of change is predetermined by societal pressures.

At PATH, we choose Path One, looking forward and ensuring no one is left behind. We reject the status quo because we know prioritizing women and girls' health and well-being leads to extraordinary outcomes globally.

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