Global Health 50/50 welcomes Katja Iversen and Sharmila Mhatre to its Advisory Council
Global Health 50/50 is honoured and delighted to welcome two new members to its Advisory Council: Katja Iversen, President and CEO of Women Deliver, and Sharmila Mhatre, Deputy Director of the Public Health Program at Open Society Foundations.
Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver – a leading global advocacy organization that champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women with a specific focus on maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights. An internationally recognised expert on development, advocacy and communications, Katja has over 20 years of experience working in NGOs, United Nations agencies and corporations. She is a member of French President Macron’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, and the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group. Her unwavering commitment to the principles of equality, justice and human rights was celebrated in 2018 when she was named Dane of the Year.
“I am thrilled to join the Advisory Council of Global Health 50/50 alongside fellow changemakers and feminist troublemakers to strategise and deliver health, well-being, and dignity for all” said Katja Iversen.
Iversen’s enduring commitment to drawing attention to the power, privileges and priorities of global health will be integral to GH5050’s mission to inform, inspire, and incite positive change. As Iversen continued, “We know that a gender equal world is healthier, wealthier, more prosperous, and more peaceful—and it starts with all of us using our individual and institutional power to catalyse action and accountability.”
Global Health 50/50 is also delighted to welcome Sharmila Mhatre to the council. Sharmila Mhatre joined Open Society Foundations in 2016. Her expertise in health systems and policy research in low- and middle-income countries is founded on over 20 years of experience leading, designing and managing multi-sectoral health programmes with government, donor, and civil society collaborators in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.
Prior to joining Open Society, Mhatre worked at Canada’s International Development Research Centre for over a decade where she headed the Governance for Equity in Health Systems program. She is a board member of the British Medical Journal Global Health and holds a PhD in health services research from the University of Toronto.
“The COVID-19 era calls on us to use a gender analysis to unpack systems of power and reimagine and restructure systems of care: from health, to economics, to education. Joining the Council was an offer to contribute that I could not refuse” said Sharmila Mhatre.
Sharmila’s vast experience of health systems and policies in low and middle-income countries will be invaluable as GH5050 continues to advocate for a fairer and more representative global health landscape and better health outcomes for all.
In these extraordinary times, where sex-disaggregated data highlights the gendered nature of burdens of disease and organisational inequity, we are grateful to have Iversen and Mhatre join the Advisory Council. Global Health 50/50 looks forward to collaborating with these two leaders in our collective push for gender equality in the global health system.
About the Advisory Council
The Global Health 50/50 Advisory Council is an informal group whose members serve as advocates and ambassadors for Global Health 50/50 in their personal capacities. Council members provide invaluable thought leadership and advice on good practice on global health and gender, as well as in supporting the development of the Global Health 50/50 initiative.
