Time to build back equal in global health leadership
Globally, women hold around 70% of health worker jobs, over 80% of nursing and over 90% of midwifery roles and deliver the majority of unpaid care and domestic work in families and communities. If leadership roles in health were allocated proportionally (assuming that women and men have equal merit) then 70% of health sector leaders would be women. Yet at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 women held only 25% of leadership roles in global health.
#SheShapes: The State of Women and Leadership in Global Health
Today, women hold around 70% of health worker jobs globally, over 80% of nursing and midwifery roles. Women’s work – paid and unpaid – forms the essential foundation for health, well-being and delivery of health systems.
The need for women’s leadership in global health – The Nigeria experience
In many sectors in Nigeria, there is a considerable lack of female presence at the helm of affairs, and the health sector is no exception.
Even though women in the health workforce constitute over 60% of the health workforce, the majority of these women in the workforce are concentrated by weight in informal, low-status and low-paid “care” roles. Nigerian women have a less equitable representation in the sought-after and consequential professional and leadership positions.
The road to UHC passes through gender responsive health systems: the case of WGH Nigeria
Being the most populous country in Africa, with an estimated total population of 216 million, Nigeria faces multiple challenges to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030, in line with global SDG commitments.
Nigeria currently ranks 157 of 167 countries in health system performance. The Nigerian public healthcare system is delivered through a three-tier arrangement system, ranging from primary level, mainly delivered through the community-based primary healthcare centres (PHCs), secondary in the state-owned or run health facilities, all the way to tertiary level care, where advanced services like cancer care and complicated surgeries are provided through tertiary and teaching hospitals.