The flagship health lounge ‘Secrets of Health Preservation’ was held on the sidelines of the Fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum as part of one of the Forum’s key projects – ‘Women for a Healthy Society’. The lounge, which brought together representatives of the community and project partners, focused on the development of advanced health-preserving technologies, successful organizational models, and promising social projects that are being implemented by women leaders in the industry to strengthen public health and improve people’s quality of life.

In the modern world, women are the driver behind improvements to healthcare and the movement to strengthen the health and well-being of the nation. Women play a wide range of roles in the healthcare system and are broadly involved at various levels in the agenda of developing advanced health-preserving technologies. They combine into a single system the best practices derived from developing and introducing innovations, successful organizational models, and promising social projects that aim to strengthen public health and improve people’s quality of life. Representing the overwhelming majority in the social sector, women work to solve a whole plethora of problems, including through the implementation of their own social initiatives, which are becoming a significant addition at the local level to programmes to modernize medical care and are not only being implemented at the federal and regional levels in Russia, but also on a global scale.

The public movement Women for a Healthy Society is one of the most authoritative platforms in Russia. It brings together socially proactive women who seek to share the values ​​of a healthy lifestyle and take a responsible attitude towards their health and the health and well-being of their families. The project is part of plan of events of the Women’s National Action Strategy for 2023–2030, which builds upon the ideas and values ​​of the ‘Women’s Health: The Prosperity of the Nation’ project of the Council of the Eurasian Women’s Forum.

The Women for a Healthy Society movement is supported by the Council of the Eurasian Women’s Forum, the Russian Ministry of Health, the National Medical Research Centre for Therapy and Preventive Medicine of the Russian Ministry of Health, the Research Institute of Healthcare and Medical Management of the Moscow Department of Health, the Roscongress Foundation and the National Priorities autonomous non-commercial organization.

The session was moderated by Anastasia Stolkova, the manager of the Women for a Healthy Society project, first deputy CEO for development and director of the Healthcare Directorate of the Roscongress Foundation.

“It is impossible to overstate women’s role in maintaining and strengthening public health. As a rule, the woman is the one who takes responsibility for the health of her family members and becomes the keeper of a healthy climate in the family. As such, a woman contributes to maintaining public health on the basis of her own family. I would be remiss not to emphasize women’s role in the innovative transformation of various spheres, but particularly the social and health preservation spheres. Women are actively developing and introducing technologies and innovations in healthcare. This is evident from the number of women who are leading research groups in laboratories at scientific institutes, as well as medical and pharmaceutical companies. The Women for a Healthy Society project is a place where proactive women leaders can exchange ideas, knowledge, and experience as part of initiatives that aim to strengthen and promote the ideas and values ​​of a healthy lifestyle and well-being. Platforms like this project help unite the efforts of public figures, regulators, scientists, and businesses in the search for new solutions to problems related to increasing people’s life expectancy, as well as creating a health-preserving environment in which it is comfortable to raise children and live a happy, prosperous life. Today, the finalists in the 3^rd Women for a Healthy Society national competitive selection of the best social projects took part in the discussion, presented their projects, and demonstrated a high level of preparation and creativity. In addition, the session was attended by regular participants of our project, who have been with us for several years. This underscores the importance of continuity in our community, where new talents and experienced participants work together, inspire each other, and contribute to our shared development. As such, the discussion served as a platform for the exchange of experience and knowledge, as well as for the presentation of new ideas and projects that contribute to the further growth and development of our community,” Anastasia Stolkova said.

The session was also attended by Russian Deputy Minister of Health Yevgenia Kotova; Director of the National Medical Research Centre for Therapy and Preventive Medicine and Chief Specialist in Therapy and General Medical Practice of the Russian Ministry of Health Oksana Drapkina; Director of the Research Institute for Health and Medical Management of the Moscow Department of Health Yelena Aksenova; Founder of the Sea Breeze Anti-Aging Centre of Azerbaijan Hajar Jafarova; General Director of the Nizhpharm Group Oksana Pozdnyakova; Chief of the Department of Health Facilities Regulation at the National Health Regulatory Authority in Bahrain Hesa ​​Sabah Al Doseri; President of ‘The Power of Words’ Foundation for Assistance to People with Dyslexia Anna Savina; and General Director of the Family Together Charitable Foundation Yekaterina Myslitskaya.

The participants discussed how to build up successful social practices and innovative projects to achieve synergy in the development of healthcare, what role women play in developing advanced health-saving technologies; how to bring together women from different countries in an effort to introduce innovative initiatives and solutions in order to develop the healthcare sector and strengthen public health; and numerous other pressing issues.

The Eurasian Women’s Forum has been held by the Russian Federation Council and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States on a regular basis since 2015.

The Forum has established itself as an influential international platform that enables women leaders from all continents to engage in a dialogue and adopt joint decisions on key issues concerning international cooperation, sustainable economic development, the assimilation of new technologies, a healthy lifestyle, environmental safety, and the promotion of social charitable projects.

The theme of the Fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum is ‘Women for Strengthening Trust and Global Cooperation’.

The event participants include women parliamentarians, representatives of the executive authorities, international organizations, business, the scientific community, public organizations, charitable projects, and authoritative figures of the international women’s movement from numerous countries around the world.

The Forum is being organized by the Russian Federation Council and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Forum events are being managed by the Roscongress Foundation.

The Forum is being held on 18–20 September 2024 in St. Petersburg.