Wemos: 2019 - our eventful year in review!

“We are proud to present Wemos’ year overview 2019. As last year also marked our 40th anniversary, it was a special year that gave us the opportunity to look back on our history, and see how far we’ve come as an organisation. Want to find out about our programmes’ achievements, many media appearances, new collaborations and how we celebrated our 40th birthday? Head on over to our new interactive document!

Last year we successfully solidated our ongoing projects with our close partners in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda: we published a country report on the health workforce crisis in Uganda and fact sheets on the implementation of the Global Financing Facility in these four countries. The media put our medicines programme in the limelight on several occasions, in national newspapers and TV episodes on high medicine prices. In 2019, we embedded our strategic plans for the coming years in our Wemos’ Strategy for 2019-2023. We will continue advocating the human right to health worldwide, a challenging  mission that requires long-term vision and close collaborations with others. That’s why we highly appreciate working with a broad spectrum of partners, from like-minded civil society organisations to policy-makers and politicians who are willing to listen to our lobby and advocacy.

COVID-19 wake-up call
The global pandemic that currently has its grip on the world is a crude wake-up call, showing flaws in many health systems worldwide. However, in the midst of this crisis, we also see opportunities. For example, to create broad understanding of what Wemos has been advocating for in the past four decades: if we want to achieve health for all and universal health coverage (UHC), we need systemic change. This means seriously investing in health systems so that everybody can count on a well-trained health professional to care for them when they fall ill and can access the medication they need.

With many challenges ahead, we continue to work on our mission. The year overview of 2019 explains how we work and also illustrates our approach with highlights of each programme.

So let’s truly wake up and invest in health systems and their building blocks, which include medicines, finance and health workers. This year in 2020 we aim to continue our work towards better changes ahead – just like how Wemos did in 2019.”