Delivered by Shama Kharkal, CEO, Swasti, Chair, Asia Pacific Alliance on Sexual and Reproductive Health Trustee, Catalyst Foundation at the Global Forum 2020 Supply Chain and Gender session.

1. GLOBAL FORUM 2020
3RDS A V I N G L I V E S S U S T A I N A B L Y :
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION IN THE
HEALTH SECTOR GLOBAL FORUM | 2020
RIYADH
Shama Karkal
People-Centric
Health
Response
1

2. Content
2

3. Content
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
● Introduction
● Why Gender in the
Supply Chain context
● Supply chains in the
context of health and
their challenges
● Lessons learnt and key
messages
3

4. Introduction
4

5. Est. 2002
Legal form:
Society (not-for-
profit)
Revenue model:
● Grant
● Own
resources
Direct reach:
500,000 +
poor and
vulnerable
people
Swasti (meaning well-being)
is a global-south, public
health agency
What we do:
1. Impactful, low cost,
replicable models
2. Range of technical support
to make public health
programmes successful
Work in India and 25 countries
More about partner organisations Vrutti and CMS, which are part of Catalyst Group
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
5

6. Why gender in the Supply Chain?
6

7. Source: UN Secretary-General’s policy brief: The impact of COVID-19 on women
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
7

8. LGBTQAI+ access to health & well-
being: Barriers
1. Availability: Lack of public health facilities and
services, both for general and LGBT-specific
concerns;
2. Accessibility: Healthcare providers' refusal to
provide care to LGBT patients;
3. Acceptability: Articulation of moral judgment and
disapproval of LGBT patients’ identity, and forced
subjection of patients to religious practices;
4. Quality: Lack of knowledge about LGBT identities
and health needs, leading to poor-quality care.
a. Community members have often delayed or
avoided seeking healthcare in the past, and
b. do not usually seek accountability or complaint
mechanisms within the health system.
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
Source
8

9. Why is the gender lens
important?
9

10. Poverty- Illness Cycle
10Source

11. Supply chains in health:
considerations
11

12. “The healthcare “supply chain” is not just
about getting products to its users but
consists of multiple independent agents,
such as insurance companies, hospitals,
doctors, employers, and regulatory
agencies, whose economic structures, and
hence objectives, differ and in many cases
conflict with each other”
- Reha Uzsoy
Supply Chain when it comes to
the Health Sector?
Source
12

13. Human Resources
● Women, especially at
the front lines, form a
large part of the health
delivery resources
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
13

14. Decision Making
● Women and other
genders are under-
represented in decision
making - design,
development, delivery-
across the different
contexts of the health
sector
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
14

15. Assets and tools
● Power, assets,
technology,
transportation are all
aspects that
disadvantage some
more than the other
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
15

16. Lessons Learnt & Key
Messages
16

17. What the
Gender lens
brings to
the table
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
Source
17

18. Layer for Deeper
Impact in Health
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
18

19. Glocal: people-engaged
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
● Investment in women has ripple
effects - we KNOW this; yet
insufficient investment in
community and local
mechanisms and capacity
● Community Led Entrepreneurship
in the health supply chains is still
nascent
● How can people become involved
in production? 19

20. Invest in Governance and
decision making capacities
GLOBAL FORUM 2020
● The right information at the
right levels - Data is
powerful and painful
● Without investment in the
right information systems,
decision making and
accountability is impeded
20

21. GLOBAL FORUM 2020
THANK
YOU
21