The monthly #AskProfAgnes equity webinar series is a platform created to discuss global health threats and challenges and serve as a vehicle for change through insightful discussions on the experiences and recommendations of global health experts working on the ground to respond to these threats. The monthly #AskProfAgnes Equity webinar is a platform created to commemorate a UN International Day related to equity. 

Watch #AskProfAgnes Equity Webinar recordings accessible below 

How to Build Resilient Health Systems to Mitigate Health Threats Due to Climate Change 

Hosted on the occasion of the UN World Health Day, this iteration of the monthly #AskProfAgnes equity webinar series:How to Build Resilient Health Systems to Mitigate Health Threats Due to Climate Change, united an expert panel from diverse backgrounds and regions who shared evidence of the importance of building resilient health systems from primary health care onwards that are ready and prepared to respond to such effects of climate change in a sustainable way. 

Improving Challenges of Women and Girls in Science Using Lessons Learned from COVID-19 

Hosted on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, this iteration of the #AskProfAgnes equity webinar series: Improving Challenges of Women and Girls in Science Using Lessons Learned from COVID-19, united an expert panel from diverse backgrounds to recognize the contributions of women in science, disintegrate different stereotypes and discriminations made against women in science. 

Improving Road Safety Using Lessons Learned from COVID-19 

Hosted on the occasion of the UN World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, this iteration of the #AskProfAgnes equity webinar series: Improving Road Safety using Lessons learned from COVID-19, united an expert panel focused on understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on road transport safety and extract lessons on how to reduce road traffic fatalities in the post covid era. Panelists recommend that we have to build roads with preventative measures, involve more the members of the community, and gather efforts from law enforcement, policymakers, and the public health sectors to advocate for road safety. 

South-South Cooperation in Education to Strengthen Development 

Hosted on the occasion of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, this iteration of the #AskProfAgnes equity webinar series: South-South Cooperation in Education to Strengthen Development, united an expert panel who assessed the contribution of South-South Cooperation in education in strengthening countries’ development and how the global community could support it. The esteemed panelists send a call: “To address the ongoing structural inequities, we challenge all the institution teaching health sciences especially in high-income countries to do three things: share their curriculum, give free access to your libraries, and provide trainers to institutions in low and middle-income countries.” 

Global Humanitarian Efforts During COVID-19 

This month, the #AskProfAgnes Equity Webinar series, together with the UGHE Bill and Joyce Cummings Institute of Global Health, hosted a panel of prominent experts from diverse backgrounds and regions who shared evidence of the importance of humanitarianism in strengthening delivery of healthcare and discussed the policies and lessons learned in fighting for their protection.

Safe Blood, Saves Lives: Driving Awareness of Blood Donation 

This month, the Equity Webinar #AskProfAgnes series, together with the UGHE MBBS/MGHD Students, hosted a panel of prominent experts from diverse backgrounds and regions who share evidence of the importance of blood donation on strengthening delivery of healthcare and discussed the policies and lessons learned in fighting for adequate and equitable access to blood products. 

Recognizing Biodiversity as a Public Good 

“We are part of the solution for nature” was the theme for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity, a UN sanctioned day urging people everywhere to stand in solidarity for the adoption of a new global biodiversity framework. Recognizing this as a global issue, we invited a diverse panel to this month’s #AskProfAgnes webinar to dig deeper into issues such as climate change, industrialization, food and water security, and why strengthening ecosystem resilience should be part of the global health agenda going forward. 

Overlooked Injustices Faced by Persons Living with Disabilities During COVID-19 and Beyond 

As a continuum of the monthly global debate on social, #AskProfAgnes, a panel of prominent leaders and experts from diverse backgrounds recently set out to explore the overlooked injustices persons with disabilities face before and during this current pandemic as well as discuss solutions. The panel aimed to offer an opportunity to share evidence, promising practices and policies, and lessons learned on the rights of persons with disabilities. The discussion explored, from a global, regional, and local perspective, what different institutions – private, government, and civil society – are doing to strengthen the leadership and advocacy for persons with disabilities in Rwanda and beyond. 

Unity in Diversity: Combatting Racial Discrimination, Stigmatization, & Bias

As a continuum of the #AskProfAgnes series, this virtual session featured a diverse set of prominent leaders and experts who explored the impact and origins of racial bias, discrimination and stigmatization of marginalized and minority groups, and proposed actionable strategies for its elimination. 

World Patient Safety Day: Health Worker Safety in a Time of Pandemics 

Ensuring patient safety is central to developing equitable and stronger health care systems. However, as witnessed during the current pandemic, patient safety is intricately linked with health care worker safety. The physical and psychological well-being of healthcare workers is essential for their safety and for the safety of their patients and is the central theme for the WHO’s Patient Safety Day this year. This webinar engaged panelists from the WHO, Africa CDC, Harvard Medical School, icddr,b, and UGHE to assess the challenges in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare workers in the current pandemic and offer solutions in moving forward. The expert panel discussed how healthcare worker safety is integral to patient safety, and identified and assessed both the challenges in protecting the physical safety and mental health of health care workers in the current pandemic, as well as their access to needed resources (including PPE and psychological counseling). Finally, recommendations for these identified challenges were evaluated.