Building bridges between women business leaders in the North and local feminist organizations in the South to sustainably improve women’s rights and health. 

Women are the first to suffer from crisis situations (conflict, poverty, violence, lack of care, food insecurity, etc.).

According to the WHO,

• 1 in 3 women worldwide are victims of physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.
• 70% of people living below the poverty line in the world are women.
• 85% of deaths from cervical cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries.
• 214 million women who would like to postpone or avoid pregnancy still do not have access to effective contraception.

The Medecins du Monde Foundation is a philanthropic organisation founded by the medical NGO Medecins du Monde and individual donors at the end of 2014, under the auspices of the Fondation de France.  The Foundation main purpose is to strengthen local civil society organizations to improve the  humanitarian and  medical response to the most vulnerable womens’ rights and health, everywhere in the world.

	Photo copyright: Luc VALIGNY

As the most vulnerable population, women are also the key to development. While public or private international aid often neglects their specific needs, particularly in the area of health, they play a decisive role in the development of their country. Thus, according to UN figures, women invest 90% of their income in the family (health, education) against less than 40% for men.

Among the priorities of the Foundation are to support family planning programs, reduce unwanted pregnancies, develop solutions for a better  access to healthcare for sexual violence survivors in conflict situations, improve cervical cancer screening in western Africa, prevent HIV/Aids, and everywhere, advocate to improve the laws.

Over the last 5 years we financed 14 programs, of which 8 were devoted to women rights and health.     We are now launching a 3 years plan to fund 15 projects in 18 countries which sole purpose is to improve vulnerable women’s and girls rights and access to healthcare, through sustainable social transformation.

We are pleased and honoured to communicate on our cause on the PWN platform this month, and warmly thank PWN Paris co-president Cecile Bernheim and Françoise Derolez for offering this opportunity to our organization.

Parity in business leadership and equal access to rights and health are key for a global change towards equality.