There are just a few days left for the Hiroshima ceremony that will kick off the handover of the G7 Presidency from Japan to Italy. These are two nations that share two primates: they are the oldest and most indebted countries in the world. But they are also countries in which gender equality struggles to make headway and at the expense, in terms of opportunities for social, professional and political participation, are the Women.
W7, the Civil Society Women's Forum: what it is and what its objectives are
For this the W7, the Women's Forum of civil society assumes crucial importance. Women 7 (W7) is an official civic engagement group of the G7 Summit established in 2018 to promote proposals on thegender equality and women's rights to governments under the Group 7 (G7) process. Based on the feminist principles of intersectionality and inclusion, the W7 brings together women's rights organizations and advocacy groups not only from the G7 countries, but also from around the world. His goal is ensure that G7 leaders adopt commitments concrete political and financial ones that lead to a tangible, lasting and transformative impact on the lives of women and girls everywhere.
Italy at the W7 summit
The W7 seat rotates annually alongside the G7 presidencies. At the turn of 2023 and 2024, the presidency of the W7 will therefore pass from Japan to Italy.
And she was indeed one of the most quoted activists in Italy, Martina Rogato, Steering Committee W7 Italy, which together with the Japanese delegation last Monday delivered and presented the recommendations to Japanese premier Kishida so that it will be spokesperson during the next G7 summit in Hiroshima, the one where the baton will be handed over for the next G7 an Italy
“The time has come adopt an intersectional gender logic to policies and solutions that concern every area, from the fight against climate change to peace and security, and to ensure that every talented woman can contribute to making a difference". These are the words of Rogato who, together with other representatives of civil society, will coordinate the work open to the delegations of other countries and to a hundred experts who will be selected on merit.
Scrolling through the priorities of the communiqué, there is an area in which the synergy of actions and strategic collaborations between Italy and Japan is gradually becoming more interesting and it concerns precisely the so-called Health 4.0 and what revolves around the technological development applied to the pharmaceutical sector and the evolution of the socio-health services proposal, at the center of Mission 6 of the PNRR. A sector that encompasses important issues: from the environmental one (being responsible for 31% of energy consumption) to investments linked to growth rates in artificial intelligence applications, as much as 68% in 2022. In short a “circular health” perspective which sees the central sustainability factors, well aware that any sustainability strategy starts from full female inclusion.
Gender equality and the birth rate problem
In November 2022, the world's population exceeded 8 billion people. For many of us, it is a milestone that the human family should celebrate, a sign that people are living longer, healthier lives and enjoy more rights and choices than ever before.
And more thought should be given to the fact that the relationship between reproductive autonomy and healthier lives It's an indisputable truth: when women have the ability to make choices about their bodies and their lives, they, their families and societies thrive.
Yet this message is not being heard by much of the world. On the contrary, many newspapers report a world teetering towards overpopulation or that entire countries and regions are aging towards obsolescence. Somehow, when human numbers are counted, the rights and potential of individuals too easily fade into the background. More and more times birth rates are identified as a problem, with little recognition of people who give birth.
This story should have changed as early as 30 years ago, when the UN's International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action recognized that the problem of the birth rate is linked to the promotion and development of equality of gender and women's empowerment, ensuring women's ability to manage their own fertility. Instead, little has been seen in actions that should be at the heart of programs related to population and development.
This view has been formulated, in large part, because women's movements have seen both the violations that can occur when family planning is used as a tool for "population control," and what empowerment and autonomous family planning can help ensure individuals. As done in many northern European countries and in Spain and Portugal.
Taking care of women's health could create opportunities across the data value chain for life sciences organizations, suppliers, payers, academics and investors. The starting point is the construction of a widely recognized definition of women's health that includes all relevant conditions – not just those related to reproductive health – and that highlights the biological relevance of sex to health outcomes.
Incumbent Italian healthcare and life sciences companies could also take the lead in partnering with companies that have unanalyzed sex-disaggregated data.
Conclusions
International collaborations and the comparison between realities with similar social problems make the work of the fundamental W7 to insist on these aspects with Governments so that they can effectively improve the generation and use of data in the delivery of care, in the training of doctors on the specific biology of sex and on the implicit prejudices that we know today, giving emphasis to the reduction of gap between the prevalence of the condition and the volume of diagnoses. All actions that could help improve health outcomes for women, but also the critical sources of data generation.
Investors, entrepreneurs, and life science incumbents each have a role to play in investing in this white space, rethinking traditional epidemiological metrics.
Reviewing and extending these metrics could be a joint effort between governments, academics, doctors and public health experts. The gaps are many and women of different demographics are affected to varying degrees. A new commitment to raise the level of data on women's health could unlock the next generation of innovations in life sciences and the delivery of care to women globally. Also, caring for women means caring community care. Because the future of innovation in women's health is only as strong as the data value chain that underpins it. And it's time to fill these gaps.
Anna Maria Tartaglia, Head of Delegation W20 and Steering Committee W7 Italy, launches a wish "In the diversity of our practices and experiences we have managed, after 6 months of work, to produce a set of recommendations that see us united in the request for a gender and intersectional perspective also with respect to the issue of health and of medicine. Sectors where, moreover, a more significant presence of women in top positions (currently they are only 18% even though they represent 68% of employees), could really make a difference".
There is no doubt that the new digital age offers endless opportunities to improve the speed and accuracy with which we can also detect and respond to potential outbreaks and monitor ongoing public health challenges, especially in support of women and youth. The creation of international portals during COVID-19 has been a great demonstration of the value of digital healthcare in harmonizing and standardizing processes across countries. Prioritize the technological advances that put people at the center, such as the digitization of primary care delivery, connected diagnostics and telehealth, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, would be a key advance.
THE2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development expressly recognizes that sexual and reproductive health and gender equality are essential to unlocking such a more prosperous and sustainable future W7 Italia is already starting on solid foundations. Her works will allow us to look far beyond the tragic experience of Covid, also and above all thanks to the farsighted and tireless commitment of Women who have always carried out a commendable work in healthcare as professionals.
