Winstanly selected as one of five ‘women who make it happen’ for global health
March 9, 2015
Louise Winstanly
IntraHealth International has named Louise Winstanly, MS, LLB, as one of five “Women who make it happen for global health.”
The announcement was made in the context of International Women’s Day on March 8, the theme for which was “Make it happen [for women].” IntraHealth International is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to improving health care in developing countries through strengthening health workers and the systems that support them.
Winstanly is adjunct assistant professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s Public Health Leadership Program, member of the Gillings School’s advisory council, and longtime donor and friend to the School.
As chair of the board of directors of IntraHealth International, she works with the Clinton Global Initiative to bring improved fistula care to women in Mali, including mental health and psychosocial assistance, as well as surgical repair.
“The birth of a child should be an extremely joyous, happy occasion,” Winstanly told Margarite Nathe, who made IntraHealth’s announcement. “But in cases of fistula, the woman not only has suffered a prolonged, excruciating labor, she most likely also has given birth to a stillborn child. So she’s dealing with both the emotional trauma of losing a child and the physical trauma of the birth. And the lingering health effects are devastating.”
More than two million women worldwide live with the childbirth injury and its life-altering effects because they don’t have access to the care they need, Nathe wrote.
Winstanly was selected in distinguished company. Others recognized were:
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, the first woman to be elected head of state in an African country, whose leadership has helped quell the Ebola epidemic in her country;
- the late Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, former head of First Consultants Medical Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, who contained Ebola within her hospital, preventing millions of new infections in Nigeria and beyond, before the virus took her life;
- Nadia Hitimana, who has been recognized by President Obama and Queen Elizabeth II for helping women manufacture and distribute affordable, high-quality, eco-friendly sanitary pads made from local banana fibers; and
- Jennifer James, who founded Mom Bloggers for Social Good, a global coalition of 2,000 bloggers from 20 countries who spread the word about the needs and successes of nonprofit organizations and NGOs.
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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.
