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COVID-19 Call to Action

Since 2020, DESERVE plays key roles in galvanizing efforts to prevent COVID-19; protecting women, children and adolescents from the far-reaching threats posed on their well-being by the pandemic and to build back better.

Globally, DESERVE collaborated with other PMNCH partners in the conceptual framing of the  PMNCH COVID-19 Call to Action.

The seven asks of the Call to Action include:

  1. Sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH);
  2. Advancing sexual and reproductive rights and gender equality;
  3. Quality care, including respectful and dignified care, and effective community engagement and redress mechanisms;
  4. Recruitment, training, equal and fair pay, and safe working conditions, including protective personal equipment for frontline health workers, notably midwives and nurses;
  5. Social protections, including food and nutrition security, for marginalized and vulnerable groups and enhanced data on adolescents, refugees, the internally displaced, migrants, indigenous communities, persons living with disabilities, among others;
  6. Functional, safe, and clean toilet and hand washing facilities and quality potable drinking water;
  7. Prevention of violence against women, children and adolescents through education and protection programmes.

By 2022, the campaign registered more than US$30 billion worth of commitments from governments and donors aimed to strengthen health systems to the benefit of women, children and adolescents.

In Cameroon, DESERVE spearheads in-country advocacy for the COVID-19 Call to Action through:

  1. Sharing knowledge and evidence on the seven asks;
  2. Advocating for a universal health coverage (UHC) system that takes into consideration the seven asks.
  3. DESERVE delivered high-level correspondences and did follow up on the request for commitments by government around the seven asks of the campaign.
  4. We took active part in the drafting Cameroon’s commitments, pointing out existing cross-cutting commitments made by the government such as FP2020 and Cameroon’s GFF Investment Case. DESERVE contributed a civil society and global health perspective to the synthesis of existing commitments and proposals for UHC.
  5. DESERVE collected community voices on how COVID-19 affects women, children and adolescents. These voices expressed equity concerns and stimulated the call for greater investments for the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. Please see from 1:14:47.
  6. DESERVE continues to engage with grassroots and grasstops stakeholders to foster sustainable implementation of existing health policy commitments and secure new ones to build back better.

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