b'Soroptimist InternationalReport for the High-Level Political Forum HealthA vital strand of the Social Pillar of Sustainable DevelopmentHealth services worldwide have struggled with thethat the world runs the risk of reversing decades of additional burdens of treating COVID-19 and haveimprovements on healthcare provision and reach. been stretched beyond capacity. The heroic effortsMaternal health, infant mortality and child health ofallhealthcareandfrontlineworkersmustbehave been significantly affected, with there being acknowledgedandcelebrated.Itmustalsobegreatconcernsthatratesofinfantandmaternal recognised that the majority of healthcare workersmortality will increase, and general health outcome arewomen.70%oftheglobalhealthworkforcewill decrease.Childhood vaccinationprogrammes being women, with that number increasing to 90%have been interrupted in about 70 counties. This has when including social care workers. viiiMany of thesealreadyledtotheresurgenceofother womenfrontlineworkers,particularlythosewhocommunicable diseases, which in turn could prompt are women of colour, lacked access to PPE. Wherea spikeinpreventable deaths. ix Therehavebeen gender disaggregated data exists, it shows that PPEseveredelaysondiseasescreenings,whichhas has not been fairly distributed between men andresultedinpotentiallycurableillnessesbeing women, and particularly to women of colour. detected too late for medical interventions to be successful. It is particularly concerning that there is Overthelast18months,duringtheCOVID-19acleargenderedimpactinwhichhealthcare pandemichealthcareprovidershadtomakeserviceshavedeclinedduringthepandemic decisionsaboutprioritiesandwehaveseenawomens and girls health should never be less of a drasticshiftinresourcesawayfromessentialpriority, even during a time of crisis.programmesandtowardscombattingCOVID-19. Frequently, this is due to limited resources; it is notToachieveSustainableDevelopmentGoal3and reasonable to try to celebrate healthcare workersensure healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages, andprovidersandatthesametimereducewe cannot sacrifice the health of many even in order resources available to them to ensure high-qualitytocombataglobalpandemic.Servicesmustbe healthcare for all. maintainedduringapandemictopreventfuture healthcrisesandcomplexhealthimpactspost-WhileCOVID-19mustbecombatted,itdoesnotpandemic. In particular, there must be a step-up in need to be at the expense of other areas of essentialaction to rebuild the progress achieved on womens healthcare.Beyondthedirectimpactsoftheandchildrenshealthoverrecentdecades,the coronavirusitselfonthosewhocontractit,pandemiccannotbeusedasajustificationfor decisions about healthcare provision and healthcaremoving backwards on health equality.disruptionduringtheCOVID-19pandemicmean15'