DR. ANSHU BANERJEE

Director for the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, World Health Organization and Deputy Executive Director, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH)

For many, female care workers, attendants and midwives may be the only healthcare service providers that see the family, often providing primary health care services directly within the community setting. These women health workers not only play a critical role in delivering maternal health, but by providing care close to where women and their families live, alleviate the burden on other parts of the healthcare system, ensuring the timely delivery of effective interventions that meet the needs of patients, families and communities. 

- Dr. Anshu Banerjee, June 2021

QUESTION

Can you share your vision of how multi-lateral organizations such as the WHO and other global policy decision-makers can work alongside governments, NGOs, development agencies, development finance institutions, foundations and the private sector in training, hiring, and compensating these women to become not only frontline healthcare workers and also women entrepreneurs to ensure sustainability over time?