Today marks the 100th International Women’s Day, and I’ve been following the online discussion off and on all day.
This morning on Twitter, our neighbors at Capacity Plus (part of Intrahealth International) asked us all to recognize female health workers around the world.
Later, on Facebook, Bill Clinton posted a photo album (OK, probably not Clinton himself) for IWD, highlighting 10 women from the past decade of work at the Clinton Foundation. [As an aside, has anyone else noticed that regardless of the content, any post on Clinton's Facebook page is met with numerous cries of "Bill, come back," "Please be our president again," or "I miss you?" Man, that guy is popular.]
Image may be NSFW.
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Then I decided to check out Google. Last year, there was some scuttlebutt when the world’s most popular search engine did not honor IWD with a “Doodle” (yes, that’s what those dressed up, holiday themed Google logos are called. They’re all archived here). Not cool, Google.
This year, however, they outdid themselves. The logo (I won’t bother linking because tomorrow it will be gone–check the archive above) is done in a vaguely Art Deco style and features a woman physician. It’s nice, but what’s even better is that clicking on it takes you to a special page where you have the opportunity to donate to one of 40 or so women’s organizations.
In the category of health, five of the seven organizations are global! Among them is Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins-affiliated, international non-profit that designs and implements effective, low-cost, hands-on solutions to improve health care services for women and families. Very cool.
But enough about what other people are doing. . .
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Audrey Pettifor (far right, standing) and her study team in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
On this International Women’s Day, I would like to give a shout out to one of UNC’s amazing women, someone who is dedicated to improving the health of young women in Africa: Audrey Pettifor. Audrey is an assistant professor of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and much of her research is focused on HIV prevention among young girls in South Africa.
In South Africa, young women are infected with HIV at 3-4 times the rate of their male peers. That’s the bad news. The promising news is that among girls who stay in school, the rates are much lower.
Audrey is currently leading a large research project in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, to determine whether girls whose families receive a monthly payment to keep them in school have lower rates of HIV. The project also includes a community mobilization intervention focused on educating young men about the relationship between gender inequities and HIV.
Keep up the good work, Audrey!
Happy International Women’s Day, everyone.
- Lisa
