CSW60

A Quality Health Workforce for Healthy Families and Sustainable Communities and Cities

On March 18, 2016, IHAN co-sponsored a side event on the occasion of the 60th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York. The session was organized by the UN NGO Health Committee.

Speakers focused on gaps in the present health care system and suggested some of the steps needed to provide quality care to families.

Speakers stressed the need for:

Universal health coverage as a pillar of sustainable development and global securityProviding health care services to promote wellness, prevent and cure disease and rehabilitate people.Forming inter-professional and multidisciplinary teamsPromoting inter-professional educationPromoting collaborative practiceDeploying an adequate numbers of the health workers in the right place, at the right time, performing, motivated and empowered to deliver quality services which are appropriate and acceptable to the social and cultural expectations of the population.Conducting research that corrects deficits in services to promote the health and wellbeing of women.Reforming health care research and medical education to improve coverage of women’s health issues in particular related to the identification of signs and symptoms of disease among women.Including collaboration and effective communication among health disciplines in the curricula of health professions education.

The speakers featured at this meeting were:

Gabrielle Casper, MBBS, FRANZCOG Professor, Department of OB/GYN. University of Notre  Dame in Sydney, AustraliaAntonia M. Villarruel, RN, PhD, FAAN Dean, School of Nursing University of PennsylvaniaMwansa Nkowane, RN, BSN, MA Technical Officer, Department of Health Workforce; World Health Organization/Geneva