Women’s Health Matters. Period.

In anticipation of Women’s Health Day that falls on 28th May, we are organizing an event that brings together experts and practitioners from Africa and Finland to deliver their insight on important aspects related to the health of girls and women worldwide. The discussants aim to deliver messages to connect, support and empower women.

This webinar is a joint initiative by the University of Eastern Finland (Finland), University of Limpopo (South Africa), Aga Khan University (Kenya), and Plan International Finland in which current issues ina women's health will be discussed. The webinar is facilitated by the South Africa Nordic Centre (SANORD) in collaboration with the Southern Africa Finnish Network for Health and Wellbeing (SAFINET).

Programme

Monday 23.5.2022, 13.00-15.00 EEST, 12.00-14.00 SAST

Opening of the webinar

• SANORD words of welcome, Dr Umesh Bawa, Director of SANORD
• SAFINET words of welcome, Dr Mikko Perkiö, SAFINET Coordinator, Tampere University
• PLAN International Finland words of welcome, Karoliina Tikka, Director of Advocacy

Keynote Address

• Women’s Health Matters: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Dr Rosemary Kabahuma, University of Pretoria / Steve Biko Academic Hospital.

Panel Discussion

(Moderator: Dr. Suchetana De)

• Stigmatization of adolescent pregnancy and its negative influence on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Ms Leena Mubarak, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Specialist, Plan International Finland
• Effects of alcohol on maternal health, Dr Olli Kärkkäinen, Senior Researcher, University of Eastern Finland
• Early sex debut, teenage pregnancy a threat to health outcomes among teenagers. Do school health services in South Africa have a role to play in mitigating the situation? Professor Pamela Mamogobo, University of Limpopo
• Addressing maternal mortality, Prof. Dr. Marleen Temmerman, Aga Khan University

Q and A

Invited Commentary.

• Gwendoline Lindiwe Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Founder of Lindiwe Mahlangu Foundation.

Wrap Up & Closing of the Webinar

Speaker Biographies

Dr Rosemary Kabahuma is an otorhinolaryngologist at the University of Pretoria doing research on otolaryngology and genetics. She has worked with minority and disabled communities in South Africa, having done her doctoral dissertation on the genetics of hearing loss in South Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand and she has done extensive research on the subject and practiced medicice in other parts of Africa including Kenya and Uganda. In addition to her PhD, she has a degree in Medicine (MBChB from Makerere University, a degree in Otorhinolaryngology (MMed ENT) from the University of Nairobi and and a MSc in Audiological Medicine from the University of London.

Ms Leena Mubarak (she/her), Master of Social Sciences, Sexuality Educator and Sexuality Counsellor has 17 years of experience working with international development, gender transformative programming and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has 10 years of experience working in Eastern and Southern Africa and has worked across the development sector in various types of institutions. She currently works at Plan International Finland as SRHR Specialist and working closely with 6 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia.   

Dr Olli Kärkkäinen is a senior researcher in drug toxicology in the School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland. He studies how different external exposures, like alcohol, drugs and nutrition, change metabolic processes in preclinical and clinical samples using metabolomics. His work includes research on alcohol use in pregnant women and young adults. He is also a co-founder and a CEO of a university spin-off company Afekta Technologies Ltd. that offers metabolomics analysis services. He has published over 45 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has been awarded with the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism Nordmann-award in 2018.

Professor Pamela Mamogobo is professor in primary clinical nursing focusing on nurse practice and research, HIV care and non-communicable diseases. She is based at the Department of Nursing Science at the University of Limpopo, South Africa currently teaches community health nursing. Her expertise lies in nursing education, and she has a Diploma in Nursing, Diploma in Midwifery, a Bachelor of Nursing, a BA Honours in Nursing Education, a Master’s in Public Health and a PhD in Nursing Philosophy.

Prof. Dr. Marleen Temmerman is a well-recognized global leader in women, adolescent and child health and rights. She is an obstetrician/gynaecologist and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University (AKU) East Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is also the Founding Director of the International Centre of Reproductive Health (ICRH) at Ghent University, Belgium, with offices in Kenya and Mozambique and member of a large global collaborative academic network (28 universities globally). She has a strong academic background with over 600 peer reviewed publications and books in the area of women, adolescents and children health and rights, family planning, HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases, and health systems (Scopus H-index 65).

Gwendoline Lindiwe Mahlangu-Nkabinde served as a Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 2008 to 2009. She has held the following position when she was in active service: Chairperson, Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism; Vice-President, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Co-ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians; executive member of the IPU, President of GLOBE (The Global Legislators Organisation) Southern Africa (2002–2004); Co-President Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (2001-2005). She is now retired but works tirelessly with children and women under-privileged communities with her foundation, the Lindiwe Mahlangu Foundation.

Contact persons:

Roseanna Avento, roseanna.avento@uef.fi

Dr. Suchetana De, suchetana.de@uef.fi