Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW)

Wie sichern wir Fortschritte für sexuelle und reproduktive Gesundheit und Rechte in politisch und finanziell herausfordernden Zeiten? 🌍 Darüber diskutieren heute zahlreiche internationale Akteur*innen beim International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development in Berlin. Unter dem Motto „Phoenix Rising: Practical Approaches to SRHR in the New Reality“ kommen Teilnehmende aus verschiedenen Weltregionen zusammen – darunter auch Bundesentwicklungsministerin Reem Alabali Radovan. Im Fokus stehen konkrete Lösungsansätze, neue Partnerschaften und die Frage, wie wir den Zugang zu Gesundheitsversorgung und selbstbestimmter Familienplanung weltweit stärken können. Gemeinsam mit dem Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Bayer, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH und der International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) bringen wir dafür Vertreter*innen aus Politik, Zivilgesellschaft, internationalen Organisationen, Jugendnetzwerken und Wirtschaft an einen Tisch. Denn gerade in herausfordernden Zeiten braucht es unterschiedliche Perspektiven und starke Partnerschaften, um Fortschritte für Gesundheit und Selbstbestimmung langfristig zu sichern. Wir freuen uns auf den Austausch und neue Impulse! 🔗 Pressemitteilung: https://lnkd.in/dzkXwW2K

Global health policy needs the perspectives of the people who experience its impact on the ground. 💭 Yesterday, Sarah Kintu and Melisa Anaseli met with Georg Kippels, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit), to discuss how health systems in Uganda and Kenya can be strengthened and how access to healthcare can be improved more effectively. Sarah and Melisa shared insights from their work on the ground, including some of the most pressing health challenges they see in their communities, such as cervical cancer and teenage pregnancies. The discussion also covered prevention and its return of investment, Universal Health Coverage, the role of technology and social media, and the importance of involving men more actively in sexual and reproductive health and rights. A key issue was long-term financing.💰 Investments in prevention and stronger health systems can generate significant long-term returns. At the same time, budget cuts make it increasingly difficult to build sustainable structures and maintain progress. With Germany’s 2027 federal budget currently being negotiated, the government and parliament now have an opportunity to respond to some of these challenges – by safeguarding long-term investments in global health, prevention and resilient health systems. Many thanks to Georg Kippels for the openness to listen, ask questions and engage with the priorities and experiences Sarah and Melisa brought from Uganda and Kenya. Action 4 Health Uganda Youth for A Sustainable World #GlobalHealth #SRHR #HealthSystems

Over 200 signatories from 35 countries joined our call for a dedicated EU instrument on women's health research and innovation (R&I) within the next EU R&I Framework Programme (#FP10), which we shared in an open letter to Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva. Our letter was well received, and earlier this month we met with Kasia Jurczak and colleagues from EU Science, Research and Innovation (DG RTD) to further exchange on how to advance women's health in the EU’s R&I policies. So, what comes next? The European Commission was very clear: their work on women’s health is not starting from zero, citing the existing commitments to gender considerations for R&I funding, and past and ongoing projects funded, and recently deployed efforts - such as the mapping of activities and best practices in Member States to identify existing gaps. We welcome these efforts, and they are an important foundation. However, the question of a dedicated instrument for women's health remains open. Securing one in FP10 will take continued, joint effort from all of us – and we are ready for it. At DSW, we will continue to follow the negotiations around FP10, now that they are in the hands of the European Parliament and the Council - and so will the Commission. During the closing session of the European Medicines Agency’s stakeholder workshop on women’s health, Maria Pilar AGUAR FERNANDEZ Aguar shared her own recommendations and priorities for areas of action: adequate funding for health research, integrating sex and gender analysis across the full research cycle, and capitalising on the data we already have. And we could not agree more! The momentum is growing. There's broad agreement on the added value that a dedicated instrument for women’s health would bring: we now call on the co-legislators, MEPs and Member States, to reflect this in their positions and to take concrete steps to ensure that women’s health is given the attention it deserves.

What a pleasure for us at DSW to welcome Sarah Kintu, CEO of our partner organisation Action 4 Health Uganda (A4HU) , to Brussels for a short but packed mission of meetings and exchanges with EU decision-makers and colleagues. Evidence-based advocacy live: In discussions with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS), Sarah presented A4HU’s great work to advance sexual and reproductive health in Uganda, striving to empower a healthier, more informed youth generation. She also underscored three key messages: 🔸 Young people must be meaningfully involved in shaping the decisions that affect their lives. Investing in their advocacy skills enables them to become active participants in their communities and drivers of positive change. 🔸 Youth empowerment must be cross-sectoral. Sexual and reproductive health is essential, but progress also depends on addressing socio-economic barriers and building links in areas such as water, sanitation and hygiene (#WASH) and agribusiness. 🔸 Local civil society organisations are indispensable partners. Their close connection to communities gives them vital insight into local needs, challenges and solutions. As negotiations on the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (#MFF) for 2028–2034 gather pace, the EU has an important opportunity to turn these principles into action. At DSW, we call on the EU to: 🔹 Support local and grassroot organisations as key implementing partners for programmes that advance youth empowerment, gender equality and #SRHR. 🔹 Meaningfully involve local organisations in consultations on future EU cooperation programmes, including in Uganda. Organisations like A4HU can provide useful perspectives on the needs and challenges faced by communities, based on their ground experience and work with youth 🔹 Prioritise human development, health, gender equality and SRHR as key sectors in the future cooperation with partner countries - as they have positive ripple effects for so many other areas of sustainable development, including education and economic resilience. Thank you Sarah for your time in Brussels 🧇 and for making such a strong case for investing in youth and SRHR! 💪

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄-𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!   This was one of the key messages brought to the European Health Forum Gastein by DSW’s Head of Brussels Office Lisa Goerlitz, invited by the International Society For Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD), Takeda and Valneva to discuss the very concrete threat of climate-driven vector-borne diseases (#VBDs). 🦟 Dr Jan Semenza gave us the data showing  that VBDs are already affecting Europe, and brought attention to the role  citizens will increasingly have to play, including for example through mosquito monitoring. 👉Laurent Muschel from the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA) found that political attention is growing, but knowledge and product gaps remain and we are still too often caught unprepared by outbreaks. 🌍Dr André Peralta Santos, MD, PhD from the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health shared lessons from Portugal’s experience with dengue and malaria, stressing the importance of community engagement and cross-border collaboration. From a civil society perspective, Lisa insisted that: ➡️𝐂𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫: pushing for the right priorities and adequate funding, highlighting gaps, while also celebrating successful investments in global health R&I, including through Horizon Europe and Global Health EDCTP3. ➡️𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬. Researchers, health workers and communities in low- and middle-income countries where VBDs are endemic have the expertise that Europe urgently needs to close these gaps. ➡️𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡. Women and girls can be disproportionately affected by VBDs, both directly, including through pregnancy-related complications, and indirectly, through unequal caregiving responsibilities. And much remains unknown because biomedical research has too often been gender-blind. Lisa’s closing message to policymakers: “For whatever file that crosses your desk that has to do with health security and research and innovation, please check if the gender dimension is there, but also if it is a solution or an approach that can work both in Nairobi and in Naples!” 🎥 Watch the session recording here: https://lnkd.in/ekaDVpGJ 👏 Thank you Marianne Comparet for the invitation, and to all the speakers for such an important conversation.

This week, two strong voices from Uganda and Kenya are bringing their experience on SRHR and youth participation to Berlin. 🌍 We are delighted to welcome Sarah Kintu and Melisa Anaseli! Sarah is CEO of Action 4 Health Uganda, a DSW partner organisation. She has extensive experience working with young people, policymakers and civil society on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), youth participation and health systems strengthening. Melisa is a health professional and SRHR activist with Youth for A Sustainable World in Kenya, also a DSW partner organisation. In her daily work, she advocates for youth-friendly health services and young people’s access to information and care. Two of our Youth Champions from Uganda were originally also due to join the delegation. Unfortunately, they were not granted visas and therefore cannot participate in person in the meetings in Berlin. This makes one thing even clearer: Young people’s perspectives need to be heard where decisions about their health, rights and futures are made. Over the coming days, the delegation will meet policymakers and partners from global health and development cooperation. We look forward to a week of exchange – and to bringing perspectives and experience from Uganda and Kenya into political discussions in Berlin. #SRHR #YouthParticipation #GlobalHealth #YouthLeadership

🌍 When it’s time to deliver, can health systems too? Join us in Berlin on 11 October 2026 for a panel discussion bringing together perspectives from global health, government and civil society on the sidelines of the World Health Summit. Drawing on WaterAid’s special report “Born without water”, global health leaders will explore the life-saving role of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities. Moderator Ludi Schlageter from Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) will be joined on stage by • Karin Tegmark Wisell (Ambassador for Global Health, Sweden; Board Member, PMNCH) • Anna af Ugglas (Chief Executive, International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)) • Dr. Andreas Schaumayer (Head of Division Food and Nutrition Security, Water, Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) • Ruth Schumacher (Head of GIZ Nepal’s Health Programme, GIZ Nepal) 🚰 Because when a woman gives birth, access to clean water is not a luxury. It is essential to safe care. Yet every two seconds, a woman gives birth in a facility without clean water, decent toilets or good hygiene. 🎬 Director Nicole Scherg will join us ahead of a screening of WISE WOMEN, following five midwives across Ethiopia, Morocco, Nepal, Austria and Brazil. 🎤 Panel discussion: 11:00–12:15 CET 🎬 Documentary screening: 12:15–14:00 CET 📍 delphi LUX Cinema, BerlinWith limited seats available, be sure to reserve your place now 👉 Registration: https://t1p.de/6460e #WHS2026 #MaternalHealth #WASH mindjazz pictures