MARCAD Females Fellow’s Leadership exposed at the Third Annual Women Leaders in Global Health Conference 2019

Speakers and participants from diverse sectors in Global Health among which our MARCAD postdoctoral fellow Aminatou Kone took part at the Third Annual Women Leaders in Global Health conference (WLGH), hosted by the University of Global Health Equity from 9-10 November 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda.

This year, the conference focused on the theme of Africa and the force of Women’s Leadership in the Continent.

Our fellow, Dr Aminatou Kone had a privilege to co-chair a panel discussion on how to write a successful grant application. She talked and shared with the younger generation of African female researchers about where to find opportunities for research funding that are adapted to them.

‘’We discussed strategies on getting more young women interested in sciences and global health carriers, maintain them and pulling them to a higher leader position in their respective carriers” said Dr Aminatou Kone.

The opening ceremony of the WLGH conference was led by Rwanda First Lady H.E. Mrs Jeannette Kagame and the H.R.H. Princess of Jordan, Dina Mired who gave the keynote speech.

“Women must be in leadership roles; they make up 70 of the workforce and only 25% of leadership. I am confident that we will leave with concrete solutions” said Rwanda First Lady.

The Princess of Jordan, Dina Mired gave a keynote Speech on ‘’Empowering Women for their own Development, Health, & Wellness’’.

"Women are and have always been the tireless custodians of our health. Women are resilient, emotionally intelligent, have great intuition" argued Princess of Jordan.

According to the organizer, Global Health is still led by men. In 2019 they found that an overwhelming 71% of board chairs and 72% of executive heads were male.

The two-day conference brings together 1,053 attendees from 81 Countries around the world and some 119 Speakers in order to establish and emerging leaders from across sectors and cultures to work towards gender equity in health leadership and to improve health for all.

The closing ceremony was led by Rwanda Minister of Health, Dr Diane Gashumba who insisted on the importance to strengthen the initiative.

“We must continue to amplify the voices of women and girls and leverage our positions as leaders to speak up for our fellow women whose voices cannot be heard.” She said.

According to the MARCAD postdoctoral fellow, Dr Aminatou Kone, ‘’ it was an important and interactive meeting where mentoring was also highlighted as a determinant factor for young African women carrier development plan. There were shown all the potential that women can have in helping global health but also why it’s important to bring more women in leadership positions for decision making. The meeting gets all its importance by creating a platform for interaction and networking but also finding mentors for early and mid-carrier women in global health sectors ‘’.

As the University of Global Health Equity which hosted this conference, our Malaria Research Capacity Development (MARCAD) programme has committed to work for gender equity in the research field.