Join the Conversation: Sex, Money, and Birth Control
The Thomson Reuters Foundation and the World Bank are teaming up on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013 at 3pm London time (GMT+1)/ 10 am EST for a live online dialogue on sexual and reproductive health.
The dialogue, titled “Sex, money, and birth control“, will feature several leading experts (see below) who will explore various issues relating to the current state of investments in reproductive health in developing countries. Panelists will take a closer look at a new report, “Closing the deadly gap between what we know and what we do: Investing in women’s reproductive health”, by the World Bank, prepared for Women Deliver.
A message from our colleagues at Women Deliver:
If you knew that a relatively modest investment in women’s sexual and reproductive health would yield stunningly high returns in terms of the physical and economic health of your nation, why wouldn’t you do it? Money talks, but a surprising number of the world’s financial ministers, particularly those in developing nations, still aren’t listening when it comes to funding in this area.
A recent World Bank report, Investing in Reproductive Health: Closing the Deadly Gap Between What We Know and What We Do, released at the Women Deliver 2013 conference, demonstrates large economic incentives to invest in reproductive health: increased labour productivity, increased household wealth as well as broader economic returns. Their panel of experts will explore the major barriers to implementing strong policies and interventions to support sexual and reproductive health, and will seek to identify positive ways forward.
Join the online discussion live on www.trust.org here. You can also participate in the dialogue by sharing comments or questions with the panelists on Twitter at hashtag #reprohealthinvest.
The expert panel will include:
Jeni Klugman, Director of Gender and Development, World Bank, and author of the report Investing in Reproductive Health. Prior to her current role Jeni was the lead author of three global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme, and has published a number of books, papers and reports on topics ranging from poverty reduction strategies and labour markets to conflict, health reform, education and decentralization.
Alicia Ely Yamin, JD MPH, Lecturer on Global Health and Director of the Program on Health Rights of Women and Children at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. Yamin’s 20-year career at the intersection of health, human rights and development has included the prestigious Joseph H. Flom Fellow on Global Health and Human Rights at Harvard Law School and Director of Research and Investigations at Physicians for Human Rights. Yamin has published dozens of articles and books relating to health and human rights, and has been awarded multiple distinctions in respect of her work on health and human rights.
Rafael Cortez, Senior Economist in the World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population unit. Rafael leads the population and reproductive health research program, focusing on sexual and reproductive health among adolescents, results-based financing, impact evaluation and health equity with special focus on women’s and children’s health. He has a combination of strategic, analytical and operational skills, with a strong track record of developing and delivering innovative health sector operations in Latin American and South Asia regions.