Financial support for women's health: UN Population Fund, BIH and Charité present new “WomenX Collective” programme in Berlin

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will launch its new “WomenX Collective” programme at the World Health Summit in Berlin on October 14, followed the next day by the opening of its first hub office in a planned global network of centres specializing in the promotion of women's health, especially sexual and reproductive health, in the German capital.

 

The Berlin office will be run in cooperation with Charité – Universitätsmedizin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). With their new partnership, UNFPA and Charité aim to promote women's health, particularly in middle and low income countries, as there is still a lack of solutions and financial resources in this area.

“Every minute, at least two women die globally from breast or cervical cancer or from pregnancy-related complications due to inequitable access to healthcare1," says Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA. “Through the WomenX Collective, UNFPA and Charité aim to help bring innovative health solutions to underserved communities, closing the health gap for women worldwide.”

Initial financing commitments in place

With initial funding commitments from international donors, including the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Organon & Co., among others, as well as an intended donation from Deutsche Postcode Lotterie the WomenX Collective programme aims to raise at least $100 million in catalytic investment by 2030 to support women's health projects, scale innovative solutions locally and promote them across sectors. This has the potential to avert at least 10.4 million unintended pregnancies, 3.2 million unsafe abortions, and 21,000 maternal deaths. With the network of hub offices, the programme aims to bring together experience and technical expertise from different countries and regions as well as modern technologies and sustainable financing. The office in Berlin will be followed by a hub in Nairobi in 2025.
To mark the opening of the hub office and the ceremonial signing of the partnership between UNFPA and Charité, partners of the WomenX Collective programme will be joined by Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as representatives of the German healthcare sector and stakeholders from the Global South.

“We are delighted to welcome the WomenX Collective programme under our roof and to contribute to the success of this important project,” says Prof. Dr. Christopher Baum, Chairman of the BIH Board of Directors at Charité and Chairman of the Translational Research Department at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. “WomenX Collective aims to leverage proximity to innovations and experts and Berlin features an outstanding ecosystem of health and innovation.”

 

 

Back