How women"s health advocates can win in 2017

In the cold light of 2017, maternal and child health advocates are still recovering from Trump’s election. Last year’s optimism that lifelong champion for women and children Hillary Clinton would ascend to the world’s most powerful political role has dissolved into despair, outrage and defiance.

For many who joined Women’s Marches in January, fear of losing access to healthcare was a top priority. “Women in America are not going back” declared Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, at the Washington DC march. Yet days after the marches, Trump took executive action to expand the ban on USAid funding NGOs providing abortions, or even information about them.

Canadian and European governments are taking the lead in raising funds to plug the loss of US support, with a new Twitter hashtag which is also rallying cry: #SheDecides.

The health of women and children are at risk in this shifting global environment, but how can advocates and newly enraged activists turn this crisis into opportunity?

Research helps us to understand why some global health campaigns succeed while others fail. Progress in combating HIV/Aids, advancing tobacco control and reducing women’s deaths in pregnancy and childbirth, for example, would not have been possible without influential action.

Academic Jeremy Shiffman and colleagues identified three key factors in creating change: strong evidence of severity of health threat; clear definitions of problems; coherent solutions and compelling reasons to act and coalition-building strategies that extend beyond the sector.

On the first point there’s piles of evidence demonstrating that millions of women and children are still dying from preventable causes, with little or no access to quality health services. At the same time, advocates have made tremendous strides to coalesce around a unified solution. Its vision, a “continuum of care” with access for all to dignified, quality services including family planning and reproductive health, is backed by rigorous new research on topics such as maternal health, adolescent health and breastfeeding.

January 2017’s massive global mobilisation for women’s rights reveals the power of civil society

From 2000 to 2015, advocates used millennium development goals 4 and 5 – reduce child mortality and improve maternal health – to galvanise political commitment, donor funding and country action. Women’s and children’s health are now embedded within a broader sustainable development goal, “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In 2017, we can use this to attract attention and resources.

Savvy communication can do wonders. Let’s start by replacing the jargon-laden term the community uses to describe itself – Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) – with a more compelling name?

Broader coalition-building is needed, starting with deeper engagement with nutrition and gender equality networks. Top creative talent and celebrity star power can help popularise this cause.

January 2017’s massive global mobilisation for women’s rights revealed the power of civil society to shape political discourse. It will mean being opportunistic and focusing locally, where politics are less gridlocked, while projecting a global message.

Now that health is more political than ever and gender is central, reproductive health advocates can make the most of this as an opportunity to make headlines.

It’s about women – elevating their rights and realities, quantified in data, told via stories. That requires powerful voices, independent accountability, making the business case and sustained citizen engagement. Women Deliver is an inclusive platform to build on, alongside a revitalized Every Women, Every Child initiative.

It’s also about politics – further sharpening political engagement, from high-level forums to NGOs and civil society movements.

Leadership at all levels is critical. It will be the determining factor in advancing the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016–2030) in this new era.

If there ever was a time to be bold it’s now, counter-intuitive, as that may seem.

Where will that leadership come from? If it starts with you, the sky’s the limit.

Ruth Landy is a consultant and advocate for women’s and children’s health & nutrition. Follow @rl_sf on Twitter.

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How women"s health advocates can win in 2017