2021-22
Alm.del Bilag 1
Offentligt
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HEALTH
TECH &
INNOVATION
THE FUTURE OF EQUAL AND
EQUITABLE SEXUAL AND
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND
RIGHTS FOR YOUNG GIRLS AND
WOMEN?
PlanBørnefonden, Maternity Foundation and AIDS-Fondet invite you to join a
cross-sectoral discussion on opportunities, pitfalls, and potential partnerships
for advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls in
the global South through science, technology, and innovation.
Speakers and panelists include the Minister of Development Cooperation,
Flemming Møller Mortensen, impact startups, funders, academia, and NGOs.
Political commentator and journalist Søs Marie Serup will moderate the event,
which will be held in English.
12 OCTOBER 2021
08:30 - 13:00
Maternity Foundation's office
Forbindelsesvej 3, 2nd Floor
RSVP to [email protected]
 SRSR, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 1: Invitation til event om teknologi, videnskab og innovation til fremme af kvinders sundhed den 12. oktober 2021
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PROGRAMME
08:30 - 09:00
09:00 - 09:05
Arrival, coffee & croissants
Welcome
Anna Frellsen, Maternity Foundation
09:05 - 09:15
Intro & Agenda
Søs Marie Serup, journalist and political commentator
PART 1: POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HEALTHTECH FOR SRHR IN DANISH
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
09:15 - 09:25
Advancing SRHR Through HealthTech in Danish Development Cooperation
Flemming Møller Mortensen, Minister for Development Cooperation
09:25 - 09:40
Three to Tango: The Nexus between HealthTech, SRHR and Development?
Sarah Seddig, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
09:40-09:55
Political Commitment in Practice: Barriers to Break in Leaving No One Behind
Lars Christian Østergreen, AIDS-Fondet
09:55-10:30
Panel Debate: Future Pathways to HealthTech for SRHR
Danish Member of Parliament, The Global Fund, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
(IAVI), and Techvelopment Denmark
10:30-10:45
10:45-11:00
Sum Up & Reflections
COFFEE/TEA
PART 2: PERSPECTIVES FROM DEVELOPERS AND USERS
11:00-11:15
From Development to Rollout: The Dapivirine Vaginal Ring
Leonard Solai, International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM)
11:15-11:50
Lightening Round: Hacking Health without Harm
Lulu Lab, Real Relief, Africa Design School
11:50-12:00
COFFEE/TEA
PART 3: MYTH OR MISSION? SUSTAINABLE HEALTHTECH FOR SRHR
12:00-12:15
Scaling HealthTech Sustainably
Anna Frellsen, Maternity Foundation
12:15-12:30
Partnerships for HealthTech
Anne Smith Petersen, PlanBørnefonden
12:30-13:00
Goodbye & sandwiches
 SRSR, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 1: Invitation til event om teknologi, videnskab og innovation til fremme af kvinders sundhed den 12. oktober 2021
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CONTEXT
Each day, 800 women and girls die
from complications in pregnancy, and nearly
232 million women and girls currently lack access to modern contraceptives.
Each week, approximately 6,000 young women aged 15–24 years become infected
with HIV, and AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death for women aged 15-
49 years globally. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated existing SRHR
inequalities and inequities as evident from the significant increase in unwanted
pregnancies, gender-based violence, and maternal and newborns deaths alongside
the disruption of life-saving HIV services. This presents a health crisis, a rights
crisis and for Denmark, a political challenge and opportunity.
Gender equality and SRHR
have constituted a core priority in Danish development
cooperation since the mid-1980s. This longstanding commitment continues in
Denmark’s new strategy for development cooperation, Fælles om Verden (The
World We Share), launched in June 2021, in which gender equality and the rights of
women and girls cut across the three strategic areas of migration, (human) rights,
and climate. The strategy posits that Denmark will continue to lead the way in the
global fight for gender equality and protection of girls' and women’s rights with a
particular focus on SRHR and will support gender equality and SRHR initiatives
locally and during humanitarian crises. While the positioning of gender equality and
SRHR as crosscutting priorities in Danish development cooperation is highly
welcomed and needed, the commitment is hardly reflected in the government’s
Finance Act proposal for 2022, in which the financial support for gender equality
and SRHR remains the same as before.
Science, technology, and innovation
present a new frontier in SRHR initiatives
locally and during humanitarian crises through mobile phone messaging, social
media, apps, voice, and video messaging, as well as telemedicine. The science,
technology and innovation underpinning these initiatives fall under the umbrella
term, ‘HealthTech.’ HealthTech offers wide coverage and reach in the delivery of
SRHR information and support, alongside hands-on insights into communities and
healthcare systems on the ground. This increases the accessibility and agility of
SRHR services during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even
within HealthTech, girls and women risk being left behind. In Africa specifically,
women are 50 percent less likely than men to use and have access to the Internet.
According to the Danish TechVelopment strategy, bridging the digital gender divide
– meaning the gap between men's and women’s access to and benefit from
technologies – requires the empowerment of women and girls to enable them to
partake in the development of new technologies.
HealthTech
provides a promising opportunity for Denmark to follow through on its
promise to lead the way in the global fight for gender equality and protecting the
rights of girls and women. However, without political will, adequate and consistent
resourcing, and localization of rollout and uptake, it will become a lost opportunity.
This event brings together representatives from the government, profit and non-
nonprofit tech and innovation organisations, academia, as well as civil society to
discuss concrete ways to ensure equal and equitable SRHR for girls and women.