On May 7, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents (GFF) kicked-off its yearlong #ReclaimTheGains campaign with Canada as co-host. At the event, the Minister of International Development Karina Gould announced an initial CAD$100 million investment in the GFF to protect the health of women, children, and adolescents.
In the current context where COVID-19 has overturned 25 years of global health progress in just 25 weeks, this initial investment is vital. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of the secondary impacts of the pandemic, including dramatic increases in gender-based violence and decreased access to reproductive health services.
We know that Canada’s investment in GFF’s evidence-based interventions will yield high returns, including enabling more than 56 million additional women to access skilled birth attendants by 2025. It will also unlock the opportunity for more funding to come as the GFF is designed to activate additional financing from domestic resources, aligned partner funding, and the World Bank.
While Results Canada applauds this commitment, we still want to see Canada do more. When we started asking Canada to invest in the GFF in February 2021 to #StopTheDeadlyDivide, we called for an investment of CAD$250 million over three years. More financing is needed to support low-income countries in their efforts to contain the virus, save lives, and rebuild their economies. We expect that Canada will step up with more investment throughout the course of the yearlong GFF #ReclaimTheGains campaign.
Join us in celebrating the investment by using your voice on social media. Include a gentle reminder to the government for Canada to provide more funding and deliver on its commitments to ensure that every woman, child, and adolescent can access quality and affordable health care.
