A youth-led conversation was held at The Swedish Society of Medicine, in which Director General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Seth Berkley from Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and Peter Sands from Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria participated in a panel discussion together with students from different disciplines.
Challenging questions were asked by the students. The global health leaders had for instance to answer: What interventions are needed to change the fact that only 20 percent of global health leader positions are held by women?
According to the Dr Tedros it is still a mindset issue. “The patronising mentality must stop which tend not see women around us who have the needed competence”, he said.
A Master student of Economics wanted to know what a young student who is passionate about global health should invest in. “We need brilliant talents”, said Peter Sands, and continued: “Probably those who have no idea that they actually are passionate about global health, but have skills of supply chains and functional skills. Above all, we do need a much broader scale of talents and skills.”
Some glad news is that the global network of Women in Global Health is growing, with more chapters in 
Johanna Lindahl is an associate professor and active at the International Livestock Research Institute, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Uppsala university. Commenting on the award, Lindahl says that it is both honouring and encouraging.
Johanna Lindahl är docent och verksam vid International Livestock Research Institute, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet samt Uppsala universitet.
