Introduction

Women in Pakistan unfortunately often have to choose between career or family. Becoming a doctor is not an easy task, and to give all that up to start a family can be heartbreaking. Some women are not given a choice to continue their professional life after marriage. Dr. Sara Saeed, and Dr. Iffat Zafar sought to address this problem by enacting systemic improvements by founding Sehat Kahani. For their services in the healthcare industry, they have been awarded as the Global Heroines of Health 2022.

Heroines of Health award by Women In Global Health

The Heroines of Health Awards were launched in 2017 to increase the visibility of women’s enormous, but largely underappreciated, contributions to health. Women in Global Health created this one-of-a-kind award to honor women from all walks of life and backgrounds and was motivated by the abundance of talent among female health professionals. Heroines have a platform at the event to express their top issues to world leaders and to change our cultures so that gender equity in health is more prevalent.

53 inspiring female leaders from all across the world have been named Heroines of Health by Women in Global Health to date. Each Heroine has made remarkable contributions to both the cause of gender parity in global health and the field of medicine. This year, 17 more women were introduced to this list.

Even though women make up the majority of healthcare professionals, they are typically undervalued as leaders, underpaid, and under-protected from physical and mental abuse. Beyond giving them praise, Women in Global health demand a new social compact for women in health that acknowledges their contribution. Women in the health industry desire the tools they need to do their professions better and provide the finest healthcare services possible to everyone. These tools include good work, safety, dignity, fair pay, and equitable leadership.

Reason behind choosing Dr. Sara and Dr. Iffat as The Global Heroines of Health

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram and Dr. Iffat Zafar co-founded a for-profit organization to address the 40% attrition rate of female doctors in Pakistan by giving them a platform to communicate with patients remotely.

For their efforts to combat the 40% attrition rate among women doctors after marriage or disability or disease, Dr. Sara and Dr. Iffat were named among the Heroines of Health 2022 by Grand Challenges Canada. In Pakistan, they established Sehat Kahani, an organization dedicated to telemedicine. Sehat Kahani, a female-led organization with over 1.3 million online consultations already completed, seeks to sign up 50,000 doctors over the next five years.

Highlights of “Leading Change: Heroines of Health” gala 

Under the banner of “Leading Change: Heroines of Health,” this event gave the women working in the healthcare industry a forum to debate the flaws in the system and supported them in emphasizing their efforts to bring about improvement. 

This year’s gala was held on October 17, 2022, in Berlin, Germany. The gala was in conjunction with the World Health Summit with the primary objective to draw attention to the historically underrepresented role of women in healthcare systems around the world. Women make up a sizeable portion of the worldwide healthcare workforce, but they are still excluded from positions of leadership and decision-making.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, and Monica Geingos, the first lady of Namibia, addressed the audience during the gala. “Women health and care workers have been characterized as heroines for remaining on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic has illuminated the gender inequities in the health workforce that are causing the “Great Resignation in Health,” said Dr. Roopa Dhatt, executive director and co-founder of Women in Global Health, about the event. Health systems and the security of the global health system are being undermined by these imbalances that harm women employees.

Words from our leaders

Getting a global award for the services for the betterment of the healthcare industry was a big achievement for both our leaders and for that, Sehat Kahani is extremely proud.

In this delighted and honorable moment, Sehat Kahani’s COO and co-founder Dr. Iffat expressed;

“This award is not just for us, but a ray of hope for many women who doubt their qualities just based on their gender. I am proud and humbled to get this award. This will drive me to do even better in the innovation of the healthcare industry. I sincerely thank both Grand Challenges Canada and the Women in Global Health to have recognized our work in the area of Digital Health for a wide array of populations especially the ones most deprived.”

CEO and co-founder Sehat Kahani, and Dr. Sara Saeed, further added;

“This isn’t just recognition for us but for all female doctors, nurses, micro-entrepreneurs, and patients that we have empowered via the platform of Sehat Kahani over the years. This recognition will motivate us to continue our struggle for quality, accessible and equitable health care for all but specifically for the women of our country while creating flexible employment opportunities for many current and future female doctors of Pakistan!”.

Importance of this award for the future of Sehat Kahani and Pakistan

Award and quality marks work to improve the company’s reputation and help it stand out from the competition. By publicizing Dr. Sara’s and Dr. Iffat’s accomplishments, this award has raised their morale and will encourage them to do better. For a fairly new organization like Sehat Kahani, getting awards might let everyone know that they have “arrived” and will strengthen their reputation.

Awards like Heroines of Health hold great significance not just for the future of the organization Sehat Kahani, but also for the women in Pakistan. With the primary goal to enable women to practice medicine along with their responsibilities of marriage and children, Sehat Kahani continues to empower women of Pakistan. Heroines of Health award globally acknowledge the work of women and thus motivate as well as challenge other women to give their best potential.

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