In the third event of the series, Commissioners Renu Khanna & Cathy Campbell will be giving a joint seminar, “Gender and health from local to global: Amplifying excluded voices”. Whilst the importance of ‘community mobilisation’ is repeatedly emphasised in the theory and practice of critical public health, less attention is given to the processes through which community voices might shape health policies at regional, national and global levels. Such policies often tend to be imposed on excluded groups in a relatively top down way, with little accountability to policy target groups. Their presentation explores the triumphs and challenges facing SAHAJ, a non-governmental organisation in India, which seeks to ‘localise Sustainable Development Goals’. The seminar will discuss the processes of amplifying the influence of historically excluded women, men and LGBT groups on sub-national and national-level health decision-making, to promote the maxim of ‘leave no one behind’ . The talk will reflect upon the challenges of advancing health-enabling social change in rapidly changing times.
