Pakistani initiative DoctHERS receives Global Goals Award in New York

By
OTHERS
|
Pakistani initiative DoctHERS receives Global Goals Award in New York

Pakistani organisation DoctHERS has been honoured at the inaugural session of Global Goals Awards, with the platform recognising its services providing health care facilities to women in the country.

DoctHERS, one of the three winners, received the Campaigner Award for improving the lives of girls and women.

The Pakistani initiative aims to ‘break social-cultural barriers’ by establishing contact between doctors and marginalised girls and women, providing them healthcare via telemedicine.

According to a UNICEF press release, the organisation has created nine virtual clinics in low income communities over a period of one and a half year. Six of these are based in the urban slums of Karachi, two in Mansehra, and one in Hafizabad.

Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, one of the co-founders, represented DoctHERS at the Global Goals ceremony at New York and received the award curated by UNICEF. 

The first award was presented to the Syrian teenager who saved fellow refugees from drowning and then swam for the refugee team at the Rio Olympics. 18-year-old Yusra Mardini had fled Syria in 2015 along with her sister, she had to swim for her life when the boat carrying refugees drowned.

The other one to receive the honour was Rebeca Gyumi, a lawyer who fights against child marriage in Tanzania.

Aimed at rallying support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed last year to tackle poverty and inequality by 2030, the Global Goals Awards were judged by a panel comprising the 17 SDG advocates who advise UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.