14 October 2024 Speech by Federal Minister Svenja Schulze at the World Health Summit in Berlin
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Ladies and gentlemen,
distinguished colleagues,
You have just seen it in the film before: Every girl has the right to choose her own path. Every woman has the right to decide for herself whether, and who, she will marry. And when she wants to have children. That was the promise of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.
And since this conference, many things have become better. Fewer women and babies die in childbirth. More people have access to health. And even if there are still so many girls who become pregnant before they are 18, their number has decreased a lot over the last 30 years.
Still, there are many people for whom the promise of Cairo has not yet materialized. And that is why today's event is so important.
A warm welcome to you all, also on behalf of the United Nations Population Fund. As long-standing partners, the German Development Ministry and UNFPA have been working worldwide to strengthen the health and rights of women.
Women like Mendewa from Togo. So that she will enjoy equal participation. Mendewa had an unplanned pregnancy when she was 17. She had had no sexual education. She knew nothing about family planning. And when she got pregnant, she did not get sufficient maternity care. She lost her child just one week after birth – a traumatic experience. In order to spare other women a similar fate, Mendewa decided to get trained as a reproductive health mentor, through an initiative supported by Germany.
And now she shares her experience with women of her age and educates them. In this way, she also contributes to social change – so that it will become an accepted understanding that women can make their own choice about their lives and their bodies. That women need access to health and modern family planning, which empowers them – and benefits society as a whole.
And this is precisely what my feminist development policy is about.
And this also means putting a focus on diseases that have been neglected but that often have severe social and health impacts – especially for women and girls. Neglected tropical diseases, for instance.
They affect women far more than men – because women are more likely to be poor. And because they are much more exposed to infectious agents, for instance when they fetch water and when they look after their children.
FGS (female genital schistosomiasis) is one such neglected disease. For such diseases, more money needs to be invested in research and treatment so that all people will enjoy equal participation in society.
Much remains to be done to ensure the equal participation of women, girls and marginalized groups. And ultimately, when all people enjoy equal participation, all of society benefits.
Thank you.