BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:AHAIC: Decade for Action: Driving Momentum to Achieve UHC in Afric a DTSTART:20210308T140000 DTEND:20210308T180000 DTSTAMP:20260921T101722Z UID:f81752da5b17c91dd4a3f24544be8d1aa0041b425f36edf88dbce471 CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:See\; https://ahaic.org/social-media/\nAgenda\nMonday\, 8 Mar ch 2021\n 2:00pm – 2:30pm EATOpening Ceremony\nMain Stage\n\n Musical p erformance (4-5 min)\n Opening video (4-5 min)\n Welcome Address from Dr. Githinji Gitahi\, Group CEO\, Amref Health Africa (10 min)\n Opening Remar ks from Dr. Charles Okeahalam\, Chairperson of the International Board of Directors\, Amref Health Africa (10 min)\n\n\n 2:30pm – 3:00pm Fireside Chat: Politics for Good - Leading the UHC Agenda with Conviction\, Main Stage\nThe fireside chat will be an informal discussion between African He ads of State and health leaders\, who have stood tall in the face of adver sity and set out on paths that few others would have the courage to take. It will feature inspirational leaders in conversation\, providing a platfo rm to share experiences and learnings of advancing the Universal Health Co verage (UHC) agenda\, inspire participants\, and set the scene for the ple naries and sessions to follow. \n\n 3:00pm – 3:50pm Roundtable: Launch of the AHAIC Report on the State of UHC in Africa\, Main Stage\nTo ensur e that Africa is on track in progressing towards the achievement of UHC ta rgets by 2030\, Amref Health Africa has established an independent commiss ion tasked with reviewing progress and providing recommendations on leader ship\, accountability\, technology/innovation\, and health security\, to h elp guide the continent towards these targets. As part of its mandate\, th e AHAIC Commission on the State of UHC in Africa will share a State of UH C in Africa Report\, which will map the progress of African countries towa rds their UHC goals. The report will also reflect on successes\, barriers and lessons learned on the journey towards providing equitable access\, qu ality health care and financial protection in Africa. This session will fe ature an opening video\, followed by a moderated roundtable\, where Commis sioners will share and discuss the findings of the report.\n\n 3:50pm – 4:00pm Break / Creative Interlude\nCreative interludes will allow for pre ssing health issues to be explored in a unique and compelling manner and w ill bring a human touch to the virtual event. Interludes will include arti stic performances such as music and spoken word poetry\, videos and audien ce engagement polls.\n 4:00pm – 5:00pm Plenary 1: Leadership for Change : Africa's Journey to UHC\, Main Stage\nCOVID-19 is an acute reminder of what is at stake if we do not achieve UHC. Africa is at a crucial juncture where the region is grappling with inadequate health systems and insuffic ient funds for health care to cater to its population’s needs. Adding to this is the impact of a crippling pandemic that has presented the region with the combined challenges of social and economic recovery and highlight ed the urgent leadership needed to solve the continent’s most complex he alth challenges. This session will bring together health leaders from acro ss the continent for thought-provoking discussions on how they see themsel ves shaping the UHC agenda in Africa over the next decade. This session wi ll celebrate examples of strong leadership driving Africa’s health agend a forward\; amplify the need for strong policies and investment in lateral programs\, like UHC\, in addition to vertical programs\; and discuss oppo rtunities that governments and partners can leverage to increase investmen ts toward UHC efforts. The session will open with a video featuring commun ity voices speaking on UHC\, followed by a moderated panel discussion.\n\n  5:00pm-5:05 – Break / Creative Interlude\nCreative interludes will all ow for pressing health issues to be explored in a unique and compelling ma nner and will bring a human touch to the virtual event. Interludes will in clude artistic performances such as music and spoken word poetry\, videos and audience engagement polls.\n\n 5:05pm – 6:05pm Parallel Sessions\nB reakouts\n5-6 parallel sessions will run concurrently and will tackle a ra nge of health issues. Sessions include:\nBreaking Barriers: Gender-inclusi ve health and leadership in Africa\nHosted by Amref Health Africa\nWomen ’s health is vital to advance broader health and development goals acros s Africa\, yet women themselves – especially African women – are under represented in leadership and decision-making across global and national h ealth institutions\, while women’s health is often deprioritized or unde rfunded compared to other health issues. Furthermore\, the COVID-19 pandem ic has shown us that gains made in women’s health are being threatened\, especially when it comes to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SR HR) and maternal\, newborn and child health (MNCH).\nTaking place on Inter national Women’s Day\, this session will elevate the discourse on women in global health – focusing on both women as leaders and women as benefi ciaries of health programs and funding. The session will provide a platfor m to highlight the vital role that women leaders have played in addressing health challenges\, such as the COVID-19 pandemic – from policymaking a nd technical leadership to scientific research and development. It will al so shine a spotlight on women’s involvement in health policies and decis ion-making (particularly for women’s health\, SRHR and MNCH) as well as the gaps in women’s leadership and influence that must be addressed. Con versations will encourage greater collaboration and coordination among sta keholders around advancing a gender-equitable approach to Universal Health Coverage (UHC)\, and reiterate the need to prioritize funding\, policies and programs that meet the health needs of women and girls\, as part of co untries’ UHC plans and investments.\nThe moderator will also engage the speakers to discuss the importance of dismantling barriers for young women leaders. Speakers will be asked to share personal experiences and insight s of the barriers they faced (or continue to face) in their careers\, how they have overcome gender barriers\, why these challenges remain\, and wha t women leaders and their allies can do to help change the playing field f or the next generation of women leaders.\nPurposeful Partnerships\nHosted by Amref Health Africa \nAdvancing Africa’s health agenda requires brea king down silos and adopting a whole-of-society approach. As we work to ad vance Universal Health Coverage (UHC)\, particularly in the context of COV ID-19\, governments\, the private sector\, civil society and all other sta keholders will have a responsibility and a role to play. Partnerships must be fostered across sectors and geographies to leverage the knowledge\, sk ills\, expertise and resources of diverse players. Furthermore\, the COVID -19 pandemic has tested health systems\, disrupted economies and transform ed the global health landscape – in light of this\, it is imperative tha t health partnerships are flexible\, dynamic and adaptable to shifting cir cumstances. This session will explore the potential of forging strategic\, transparent\, mutually beneficial and innovative partnerships to help cat alyse progress towards shared health targets – as well as the value of e ngaging new and unconventional partners to tackle global health issues\, i ncluding partners from outside the health sector. In particular\, this ses sion will make the case for multi-sectoral collaborations that have emerge d or adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic\, to respond to immediate needs while also focusing on sustainability and long-term goals. Speakers will h ighlight how non-traditional partnerships can engage new audiences to prom ote change\, how sectors outside of health and development can contribute to advancing Africa’s health agenda\, and how flexibility and innovation are key to driving impact. This session will also highlight recommendatio ns from successful\, purpose-driven partnerships for effective collaborati on to advance Africa’s health agenda. The conversation on “Purposeful Partnerships” presents an opportunity to celebrate innovative and adapta ble partnerships\, discuss how to scale these up to reach wider population s\, and identify new areas of potential impact and collaboration\, to deli ver on our shared goal of health for all.\nTechnology and Digital Platform s for UHC\nHosted by Amref Health Africa \nLess than 50% of Africans have access to modern health care facilities\, and many countries are struggli ng to meet the needs of their population due to acute health worker shorta ges. In the face of these obstacles\, innovation is transforming health ca re diagnostics\, treatment\, delivery\, data collection\, and user experie nce in Africa. In addition\, the COVID-19 pandemic has galvanized the deve lopment of more than 120 health technology innovations that have been pilo ted or adopted in Africa\, according to WHO – including technologies foc used on surveillance\, contact tracing\, community engagement\, treatment\ , laboratory systems and infection\, prevention and control. This session will highlight how novel and innovative interventions are responding to em erging needs as well as long-standing health challenges across Africa\; ex plore the value of data systems for health and how they are being leverage d to make strides towards health for all\; spotlight African innovators\; and showcase technologies that are leapfrogging progress towards UHC acros s the continent.\nWomen in Innovation: Providing leadership\, creating sol utions and driving change\nHosted by IFPMA\; Co-sponsored by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)\, Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC)\, and The Innovation Council\nInnovation is crucial to identifying solutions to achieve the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Implementation of the SDGs requires all stakeholders to play their part. This International Wom en’s Day\, women from diverse sectors\, different countries and with dis tinct innovation models\, will come together throughout the world to share their journey and how they are working to provide real life solutions. Ma ny of them will have made an impact in their communities\, or regionally a nd/or globally\, through thinking differently and driving change through i nnovation and creativity. We want to celebrate your personal stories\, a nd to highlight how you have impacted lives. And\, above all\, we want you to inspire future innovators\, creators\, engineers\, and scientists.\nBl ended Finance for UHC\nHosted by Amref Netherlands      \nSustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 – ensuring health and well-being for all at all ages – is critical to achieving progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustain able Development. Despite great progress\, many African countries still la g far behind on key health and social security parameters\, such as matern al mortality\, under 5 mortality and health insurance coverage. The Covid- 19 crisis lays bare a critical need to step-up long-term investments in he althcare to accelerate the pace towards achieving SDG3\, beyond emergency response – but many African countries have limited financial capacity to make these investments\, struggling with a public health financing shortf all estimated at $66bn a year (FT\, 2019). Private capital can complement government investments in inclusive healthcare projects. The higher risk p rofile of such projects requires innovative blending of different sources of financing\, including patient impact capital (equity\, long term debt)\ , concessional capital\, and donor funds. In this interactive session\, we will use concrete case studies to highlight different innovative financin g solutions\, and ask different players in the healthcare financing space to share their respective insights.\nFrom strategy to implementation: on t he pathways of the continent’s youngest countries towards digital transf ormations in health\nHosted by Governing Health Futures: The Lancet & Fina ncial Times Commission\nThe Governing Health Futures 2030 Commission is exploring the convergence of digital health and artificial intelligence wi th universal health coverage (UHC)\, with a focus on the health and well-b eing of children and young people. The Commission is gathering information on different approaches to digital transformation of health systems\, par ticularly in countries with large populations of young people under 25. In 2020\, the Commission conducted a study on ten African countries with you ng populations (Cameroon\, DRC\, Ethiopia\, Liberia\, Malawi\, Mali\, Nige r\, Nigeria\, Tanzania\, and Uganda) to better understand national priorit ies and activities for strengthening digitally enabled health systems\, ba rriers to implementation\, and the extent to which the needs and views of young people have factored in these efforts to date.\nThis session will pr ovide an opportunity to hear the findings from the Commission’s study\, and to contribute further insights on the experiences of African countries in developing and implementing digital health strategies.  LOCATION: STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR