Workshop on ‘Challenges for Women’s Health in sub-Saharan Africa'

This workshop took place in Lambarene, Gabon on the 21st to the 24th of January 2020, organised by the HelmVit consortium between German and Gabon. The two- and half day workshop brought together 20 experts and health care providers (including midwives and nurses) from Africa (Gabon, Mozambique and Cameroon) and Europe (Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom). Local and state representatives from Gabon and the Merck Global Health Institute also took part.

The workshop was designed to contribute to capacity building of local health systems, focusing on an integrated and comprehensive health care approach for women’s health and helping to interlink management for individual diseases.

The objectives were to:

• Explore the level of knowledge among health care providers and assess the care systems in place for combating the local burden of NTD like FGS and NCD like cervical cancer.
• Exchange comparative experiences and good practices for caesarean section in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) setting, with knowledge-sharing and practical teaching modules.
• Identify opportunities for scientific and operational collaboration between Germany and Gabon to increase the knowledge base about what works to enhance health systems for women’s health.