AİSMA FATHİ

Cairo-Women's needs are many and various, but healthcare is at the top of their list and its scarcity is women's greatest concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a constitution that supports women experiencing big crises, particularly during the recovery process from the coronavirus, which has cast a long shadow on all over the world for about three years. Women are at the top of the list of those who have suffered most over that period.

Covid-19's harmful impact has aspects and facts that we shall highlight in this article. We spoke to Hala Saqr, Head of Violence, Injury, and Disability Affairs in the WHO Regional Office in the Eastern Mediterranean. She took part in a lecture titled “The Impact of Crisis and Disasters on Women and Girls in the Arab World" at the book fair held by the Arab Women's Organization.

"There is a supportive political will for women, as well as international commitments”

According to Hala Saqr, there is a supportive political will in Arab countries to support women. Not only that but there are also international commitments and conventions such as the Millennium Development Goals. She said that the needs of women are being supported at the international level, as well as by several regional and worldwide organizations.

As a first step, She clarified that politics is the art of achieving the absolute maximum under objective circumstances, emphasizing the importance of respecting the current contexts and providing support to women. She stated that it is critical to respect their demands while providing services to them, observing everything from their perspective while providing support to them based on their requirements.

She stressed that in Arab countries, the family could become an incubator shortening the time and effort for women’s empowerment; however, it could turn into a means that prevents women from being empowered.

“The constitution of the organization and its concept of health”

The WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of infirmity or disease, Hala Saqr said, emphasizing that it is not only about not being sick. She stated that the organization works to expand beyond a medical standpoint to include both medical and social perspectives. She believes that more study should be done on integrated social visions as well as on the medical area to economic progress and social circumstances.

She pointed out that the lack of an overall idea of health has a detrimental impact on productivity and ability to work. There will be no ability to deal with the social frames and push them forward without mental health because the medical services whether health strengthening, responding, or protecting are part of the supplementary social visions for countries, and without them, there will be a huge gap in getting the targeted ones in the various works of organizations.

Reproductive Health

She described the organizations' visions for reproductive health on the regional level, which strives to achieve the highest levels in the ultimate medical concepts for everyone, including women and girls, taking into account the visions and the circumstances that affect them on all levels. Confirming that women are the healthcare providers on various levels, and this raises the question of how much potential there is to empower them and make their mission easier, she points out that women are the ones who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in neglecting reproductive services, which causes many problems. She stated that surviving the first trauma caused by the pandemic, women's health, and their right to a decent life are essential.

 "Goals set up by WHO and some guidelines for women"

 On the sidelines of the conference, Hala Saqr spoke to JINHA about the impact of the Arab world's major problems on women and girls. In the context of the women's organizations' suggestions about the impact of crisis and disasters on women and girls, one of the WHO's goals is to work on coordinating efforts and utilizing all resources in order to implement and provide a lifetime of health and dignity to girls and women in the Arab region.

She stated that the organization intends to respond effectively and quickly to crises faced by women, as well as work to ensure that they are carried out correctly in addition to restoring safety. She cited the importance of interpreting international conventions signed by governments and putting them into practice on the ground.

She emphasized that, in addition to the government approach, there are other and more controlling criteria, such as focusing on women's and girls' benefits with respect to their viewpoints and visions in order to help them out and cope with their conditions. She demonstrated that dealing with prejudice with them will have bad consequences that are why work should be done in an integrated manner based on what is best for them while avoiding harming them. Women should not be compelled to act without being protected from the consequences, especially when the visions are one-sided and potentially harmful. Rights and dignity must be protected and work against discrimination must be undertaken. In addition to collaboration and integration, there should be fairness and respect for humanitarian principles in general.

Recommendations from the workplace to help girls and women in crisis include:

Hala Saqr made a list of recommendations, including the support of the WHO to women in crisis and disaster situations, with a focus on the systematic and institutional integration of the social kind in the process of making decisions, developing programs, and policies about disaster preparedness, management, and mitigation. It is critical to include women and allow them to have a central role in the development and implementation of policies and initiatives, in addition to responding to catastrophes and interfering at all levels to prevent crises. It is also vital to implement proactive, reactive, and healing plans at all stages of execution. She believes that the most important thing is to allow women to become involved and play a leadership and participant role in the changing course.

She made a point to listen to all women with different categories and to seek to address societal issues, particularly those affecting displaced, migrants, and disabled women. WHO assisted 18 countries in evaluating the integration process between disability in medical response during the nineteenth century and the trial to observe the factors that work against them, one of which is the mixing between accessible services, making services accessible, and the ability to access them. Services are available but the report focuses on how the countries address the barriers that make it difficult for certain groups to get the services or use them.

She added that she presented a PowerPoint with a number of recommendations, the first of which stresses the need of caring for older women, believing that they are the most venerable women economically and socially.

She said that the presentation she gave included the importance of paying enough attention to the violence of a social nature, ensuring that during the pandemic, indications and evidence show that violence rates have increased due to social and economic pressures, affecting physical and psychological health, and that, of course, made all family members suffered not only women.   

One of the Saqr's proposals was to start working on the proactive preparations and get ready by building an early warning system, as well as depending on precautionary measures that take into account the social nature, such as steps to prevent violence and other abuses of women rights. There should also be effective multi-sector and branch planning to respond to the issue. In the meantime, trainers are being trained further in various UN organizations on incorporating social aspects into humanitarian work, and after regionalizing the plans, they will be available in all countries, allowing them to practice on a variety of projects.

At the end of her speech, Hala Saqr stressed the importance of increasing the data productions through research and evidence that considers the gender-sensitive in order to make appropriate policies including evaluating the special needs of women and girls in those cases, promising that an expected report about gender and healthcare will be released in the coming months.