CWWL Networks -- Ministers of Health

Ministers of Health

Globally, health indicators show that women are being disproportionately affected by

preventable disease. Since 1985, the percentage of women living with HIV/AIDS has

risen from 35% to 48% worldwide, and that figure is continuing to rise at an alarming rate.

For example, young women now make up 60% of all 15-24 year olds living with AIDS[1].

Although this trend is most pronounced in developing countries, and Africa in particular,

new evidence also shows that prevention efforts in Western Europe are faltering as they

are outpaced by the changing patterns of infection. The factors which increase women’s

vulnerability to HIV/AIDS are partly biological as they are more vulnerable to infection,

but the key factors that explain women’s increasing rates of HIV/AIDS are largely social:

both behavioral and cultural, and often underpinned by economic insecurity and legal

discrimination. A functioning and fair health system would alleviate the burden of disease

currently falling on women and girls. As the head of the public health systems in their countries,

Ministers of Health must be at the core of any effort to raise the status of global women’s health.

In 2004, the Network of Women Ministers of Health was established to develop strategies

for ministers to work together to shape health, development and human rights policies at the

national, regional and international level. It has convened annually in conjunction with the

World Health Assembly in Geneva to discuss issues of common concern with the aim of

influencing the agendas of international dialogue around women’s health. The Network,

currently co-Chaired by the Honorable Elena Salgado, Minister of Health, Spain, and the

Honorable Charity Ngilu, Minister of Health, Kenya, holds the potential of building a critical

mass to catalyze for change -- shaping and informing health policy-making from the national

to the global level.

Focusing on the key issue areas of reproductive and sexual health, the Network is presently

undertaking a proposed five year program entitled the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for

Global Women’s Health. The primary aims of this program are to build the capacity, political

leadership, and expertise of ministries, to coordinate donor aid and establish equitable health

budgeting for greater efficiency and impact, and to strengthen relationships between government

and civil society organizations to connect grassroots work to policymaking. The Initiative was

officially launched September 18^th, 2006 in Maputo, Mozambique on the occasion of the Special

Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Health.

[1] UNAIDS/WHO “AIDS Epidemic Update” December 2003 and UNAIDS/WHO Estimates December 2004

Women's Ministerial Initiative Networks:
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Ministers of Health	Ministers of Education
Ministers of Finance, Economy & Development	Ministers of Women's Affairs
Ministers of the Environment	Ministers of Culture