OPS promueve Primer Encuentro Internacional de Alcaldesas por la Salud, el Bienestar y la Equidad – OPS/OMS

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, May 17, 2024 (PAHO) — The First Meeting of Women Mayors was held from May 16 to 17 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia to share experiences on local governance to health, well-being, health equity and women’s leadership in local politics. The objective focused on providing a space for reflection, debate and exchange between women mayors that allows progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda, with respect to the construction of healthy municipalities.

«Municipalities, being the government closest to people and communities, are an ideal space to promote health, well-being and achieve health equity by addressing social determinants, working between sectors and social participation . The leadership of the mayors proposes a different way of doing politics, essential for improving the health of the population, especially of women, girls and adolescents in vulnerable situations,” said Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, director of the Department of. PAHO Social and Environmental Determinants for Health Equity (DHE).

This event is organized by the Association of Councilors and Mayors of Bolivia (ACOBOL), with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Government of Canada, in the context of the project. Improving the Health of Women and Adolescents in Vulnerable Situations. The event, which was developed through five discussion panels, is the continuity of a series of actions that highlight the leadership of female mayors in promoting health, in addition to pointing out the challenges faced by women in positions of power, including . , political violence due to gender.

The meeting also sought to strengthen and position women’s leadership and gender equality. «We need to have a society with equity and with political participation of women. We mayors consider ourselves fighters of history. We seek a society with political and social participation Economic in equity,” said Sara Armella Ruedas, president of ACOBOL and Mayor of the Municipality of El Puente, Bolivia.

The topics of the meeting represent a central axis of the Regional Movement of Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (MCCS), a platform of more than 3,000 municipalities in the region where various health initiatives are implemented at the local level.

The initiative, promoted by PAHO, articulates spaces for dialogue to improve and protect the health of the population. The meeting of Mayors of the Region of the Americas seeks to support political action focused on addressing the social determinants of health, attention to groups in vulnerable situations: indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, boys and girls, adolescents and women.