Activites of MWIA and its Regions
Edition 6, 2022
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A heartfelt thank you to MWIA members for your brilliant collaboration, hard work and encouragement in 2021. We are blessed to have taken good care of ourselves, our loved ones and the communities we serve as we ushered in the New Year with greater resolve and renewed commitment to take MWIA to her rightful place as the leader in women’s global health.
As if the struggles of the medical community and families with COVID -19 was not enough, the escalating violence in Ukraine has brought additional hardship and untold devastation to our world. On behalf of MWIA, I condemn in the strongest terms the attacks on medical facilities and call for a cessation of hostilities and restoration of peace. We stand in solidarity with empathy and compassion to speak up against the unacceptable bloodshed of innocents and wanton destruction of property.
My duties for the year 2021 ended with a visit on 8th December on the invitation of Medical Women's Association of Ghana Maiden to celebrate National Women Physicians Day in honour of Dr Susan Barbara Gyankroma Ofori - Atta, First female Ghanaian doctor. H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo - Addo , President of the Republic of Ghana was in attendance (Fig. 1 right) . I salute MWAG led by the indefatigable Dr Marion Okoh-Owusu for this initiative.
Following the passing on 26th December of Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, I wrote a tribute: https://paulukpabio.com/2021/12/27/mwia-president-dr-eleanor-nwadinobi-shares-fond-memories-of-desmond-tutu/
Archbishop Tutu contributed to my thesis titled 'Harmful Cultural Practices in the Context of the Right to Health: The Case of Child Witchcraft Accusations in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria' in 2009 when we met at Trinity College Chapel, Dublin (Fig.1 left). His words were “Every child needs a home”.
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Fig. 1: Left: With late Archbishop Emeritus and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu.
Right: With H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo - Addo , President of the Republic of Ghana and MWAG members
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On January 20th, I was a panelist at the Monthly Meeting for NGO CSW discussing the mental health of women and children in the context of COVID and Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXcjtnTY9OY
On 22/2/22, I was panelist at the Ports to Arms Conference moderated by Dr Yodi Alakija WHO Special Envoy for ACT, with Emma Hannah - Chief Access Officer FIND Geneva, John Arne Rottingen - Ambassador for Global Health, Norway discussing Equity and Justice in a time of COVID-19 , ‘Nothing about us, without us” (Fig.2)
On February 26th, I made welcome remarks and contributed to the panel discussion for the Vietnamese Doctors' Day. MWIA Western Pacific region led by the Vice President Dr Desiree Yap in this joint mini symposium.
I represented MWIA at several International Women’s Day events under the theme “Break the Bias”, including as panelist at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7WJ_BPJNVE and gave a press interview: https://guardian.ng/news/women-seek-end-to-discrimination-demand-gender-equality-in-leadership-employment/
I encourage members to attend the virtual CSW meetings and look forward to seeing you all in Taiwan!
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Fig. 2: left: at the Ports to Arms Conference on Equity and Justice in a time of COVID-19 with Dr Yodi Alakija WHO Special Envoy for ACT, with Emma Hannah - Chief Access Officer FIND Geneva, John Arne Rottingen - Ambassador for Global Health, Norway.
right: the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) International Women’s Day Press Conference alongside Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Francine Ntoumi President Congolese Foundation for Medical Research.
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Greetings dear colleagues and friends,
as we are entering the Spring season in the Northern hemisphere and the Autumn or Fall season in the Southern Hemisphere, it is sad that we continue to grapple with the pandemic and the horrifying effects of the armed conflict in Ukraine. As physicians we often are confronted with emergencies and life and death situations, but the effects of war on the vulnerable populations especially women and children are indeed devastating.
March is women’s history month and we celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8th and the theme is # Break the Bias and we all need to work across sectors to address this and promote gender harmony and equity in the society.
I had the opportunity of attending an event on addressing Period Poverty and Promoting Menstrual Equity as an invited speaker at The Dubai Expo. It was an amazing experience to attend the expo since the theme was the Sustainable Development Goals. I am sharing a poem I wrote to commemorate International Women’s Day (Fig. 1 & Fig. 2)
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Fig. 1: With fellow international panelists at the discussion on Menstrual Equity and Period Poverty at Dubai Expo
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Fig. 2: Powerful message from Women's Pavilion at Dubai Expo
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I am excited, honored and humbled to share that I am a designated (non-government adviser) public delegate of the official delegation of the United States to the 66th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. https://usun.usmission.gov/ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-to-serve-as-u-s-head-of-delegation-to-the-66th-session-of-the-un-commission-on-the-status-of-women/
I would kindly remind you to send in the national association reports by June 1st as the final update of this triennium will be published by June 15th ahead of the MWIA Congress
Please follow the guidelines on the link to submit your reports. https://mwia.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MWIA-template-guidelines-for-national-associations.pdf
This link is also on the MWIA website.
Look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming MWIA Congress in Taipei Taiwan in June 2022
Thank you for all you do.
In Health and Human Rights!
Dr. Padmini Murthy
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The last three months have been challenging: not only have physicians around the world to deal with the effects of the still ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, but the war in Ukraine reminded us all that peace is a gift and cannot be taken for granted. It is quite heart-breaking to witness the destruction of medical facilities by Russian bombs and innocent patients and medical staff being killed or wounded.
I am vice president of the European Women´s Lobby (EWL), representing the European branch of MWIA in the EWL board and in the EWL Executive and the EWL have raised their voice at many occasions asking for more female participation in the peace talks and in the peace process (please see my EWL rep report in this update: https://mwia.net/2022/03/23/the-ewl-calls-on-eu-leaders-to-include-women-in-the-talks-and-peace-processes/)
In midst this, we should not leave out of sight other important topics such as the negative effect of the climate change on health and domestic violence against women and girls, which has increased during the pandemic. The more I am pleased to inform you that the European commission (EC) published a legislative proposal on combating violence against women and domestic violence ( https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1533) at International women´s day. Many forms of violence will become a criminal offence. The EC also launched a video celebrating the publication of the directive and I am honoured that I was chosen to be one of the voices in the video reminding everyone that “there is no safe space”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5TVXC_SqN0 |
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The MWIA awards committee chaired by me has been assessing various applications submitted for our funds and awards (https://mwia.net/about-us/mwia-funds/) since January 2022. MWIA is deeply indebted to all the committee members for the dedication and hard work. We are absolutely thrilled to inform you that we have chosen two winners for the Waltraud-Diekhaus Essay award (https://mwia.net/about-us/mwia-funds/waltraud-diekhaus-fund/):
- Dr. Yvonne Buowari from Nigeria: Women Keeping Slave Wives in Nigeria, another Form of Violence Against Women And Girls(category: gendered violence)
- Dr. Fatima Damagum from Nigeria: The 1.7% among us(category- sex and gender sensitive medicine)
The award will be presented to the winners at the closing ceremony of the International congress in Taiwan and the essays will be later published on our MWIA webpage. Congratulations to both winners!
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Last, but not least I am looking very much forward to seeing you all at the International meeting in Taiwan in June 2022, which will be organized as a hybrid event.
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At the time of writing this newsletter the Ukrainian situation is uppermost in my mind and the horrors of this conflict for women, children and their families. This contrasts starkly with the joyful news I have had in February of 2 granddaughters born to each of my daughters!
Until we sort out matters at the General Assembly in Taiwan regarding MWIA registration, there can be no change in our banking and any investments. Thank you to all countries who have recently paid their 2020-21 dues and in some cases 2019-20 as well. Please do let me know when dues are sent and also Dr. Padmini Murthy our secretary general. If you have not received a receipt for your dues then please let me know as we have one payment where it is unclear which country sent it. I always sent a receipt as soon as we have the bank statements. These only come once a month anytime from the 5th onwards (but will be the 8th if the 5th is a Friday). Please do sort out payment for your country and the same for individual members to be able to vote at the General Assembly in June 2022. If there are issues with payment of dues that you need to discuss then I cannot emphasize enough to please contact me and I can explain the situation to Exco.
Although Zoom meetings have kept us in touch, I am very much looking forward to seeing MWIA members face to face in Taiwan. If your association has changed their President, Treasurer, Secretary or MWIA co-ordinator please can you let me know so that the email goes to the correct person when sending out dues notices.
Please do contact me on helengoodyear@btconnect.com for any treasurer issues.
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Activities of MWIA and its Regions
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Medical Women Association of Nigeria held its 22nd Biennial Conference and General Assembly from the 14th to 18th of September, 2021. A major feature of the event was the election of a new set of national executives with Dr Lillian Adekemi Otolorin as the National President, Prof. Rosemary Ogu as the National President Elect and Dr. Gbemisola Daramola as the National Coordinator.
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AMWA Report to MWIA, First Quarter 2022
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At the time of writing this update, our membership and executive are acutely aware of the challenges in Europe secondary to the invasion of the Ukraine. We stand in solidarity to the physicians and health care providers and other humanitarians working on healing in this setting. These are our recent events:
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Short update of activities in Austria
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Medical Women's Federation, England update
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I am honored to be the new Swedish national co-ordinator for MWIA after Dr. Elizabeth Lichtenstein. She has done a great job and I am thankful for her support! I was first presented to the MWIA work during the preparations for the Northern European regional meeting in November.
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News from Japan Medical Women's Association: no matter what the reason, war cannot be justified.
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1. KMWA donation activity. 2. Kim Bong-ok gave a lecture with the title “Why MWIA & Western pacific Region” in WPR mini symposium.
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AFMW MWIA Newsletter update
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MWIA 2022 Congress will be held virtually and in-person in Taipei on June 24-26, 2022. The deadline for early-bird registration is April 30, 2022!
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Reports from MWIA Representatives
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CPME report
The aim of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME; Comité Permanent des Médecins Européens) is to coordinate the opinions and interests of the professional medical organisations across different areas of health and social policy in order to be able to present European institutions with a unified voice (https://www.cpme.eu/)
The CPME established the Ukraine Medical Help Fund as a joint initiative by CPME, EFMA and WMA following an urgent request by the Ukrainian Medical Association. “The intense military escalation has resulted in loss of life, injuries, and the displacement of over one million refugees to neighbouring countries, with more expected. Hospitals and medical facilities have suffered severe damage and there is a shortage of all medical supplies and tremendous logistical challenges in sending aid.“
Information on the use of the funds and if you want to donate: link: https://www.cpme.eu/news/donate-to-the-ukraine-medical-help-fund
The CPME, together with the World Medical Association,” condemn any act of aggression that prevents doctors and healthcare professionals carrying out their duty of care to protect lives” and stated that medical neutrality must be observed in Ukraine. Please read their full statement here: https://www.cpme.eu/news/medical-neutrality-must-be-observed-in-ukraine
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The EWL calls on EU leaders to include women in the talks and peace processes
The last 3 months were overshadowed by the war in the Ukraine and the EWL organised a webinar at March 3, 2022 with the National Council of Women of Ukraine. After the webinar, the European Women’s Lobby endorsed a statement calling on EU leaders and the international community to include women at every stage of peace talks and processes in Ukraine: https://womenlobby.org/IMG/pdf/ewl_statement_ukraine_final_4_3_2022_.pdf
In light that over 4 million people will flee Ukraine with most being women and children it is also most importantly to take measures to “prevent the sexual exploitation of women and girls who could fall prey to unscrupulous trafficking networks and pimps”.
New EU directive on combating violence against women and children
On International Women’s Day, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) welcomed the European Commission’s legislative proposal on combating violence against women and domestic violence (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1533). This is a success for the EWL and its members, who have long fought to bring the issue of violence against women and girls on the EU political agenda. In this EU landmark Directive is e.g. female genital mutilation violence against women recognized as a criminal offence. The full EWL press release can be found here: https://womenlobby.org/EC_Directive?lang=en
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EWL campaign to end all forms of violence
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There is no planet B
The EWL, ahead of the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), has published a statement addressing gender equality in the context of climate change: https://womenlobby.org/The-EWL-demands-active-gender-mainstreaming-in-climate-policies-after-the-COP26?lang=en
The EWL had also organized together with its French member, la CLEF, the French Presidency and the Trio Presidency (Czech Republic and Sweden) a side event on the theme of women and the environment, during the CSW, on 17 March. This event was excellent and very well received.
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EWL campaigns around the CSW theme on climate change and justice.
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Keep updated with upcoming events in the MWIA Calendar listed on our website.
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MWIA Executive 2019-22
President: Dr Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi
Secretary - General: Prof Dr. Padmini Murthy
Treasurer: Dr. Helen Goodyear
Past President: Prof Dr. Bettina Pfleiderer
Regional Vice Presidents
Central Europe: Dr. Edith Vecsei (Austria)
Northern Europe: Dr. Elisabeth Lichtenstein (Sweden)
Southern Europe: Dr. Antonella Vezzani (Italy)
North America: Dr. Vivien Brown (Canada)
Latin America: Prof Dr. Magda Maria Sales Carneiro Sampaio (Brazil)
Near East & Africa: Dr. Christine Sadia (Kenya)
Central Asia: Dr. Mandakini Megh (India)
Western Pacific: Dr. Desiree Yap (Australia)
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