17 May Congratulations to Prof. Gunta Lazdane – ESC Medal award winner
Gunta Lazdane is an obstetrician and gynaecologist and has been Professor and Head of the University Department in Riga Stradins University, Latvia. Since 2003, she has worked at the WHO Regional Office for Europe as the programme manager for Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Promoting Health through the Life-Course. She assisted 53 WHO Member States in the European Region in improving sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health thrbyough promoting good health at key stages of life, taking into account social determinants of health and gender equity and human rights.
When Prof. Dr Gunta Lazdane started her work as a programme manager at WHO in 2003 she soon searched contact with ESC. Over the last 14 years her initiatives resulted in a very fruitful and successful collaboration with WHO. ESC was invited to join the WHO Regional Advisory Panel on Research and Training in Reproductive Health. WHO contributed regularly to our congresses with sessions and speakers and as member of the scientific committee ensuring that the latest information from WHO reaches participants all over Europe. WHO regularly had a booth at our congresses providing qualified educational material. Prof. Lazdane promoted collaboration with ESC experts in seminars of countries difficult for us to access, like Armenia and Kyrgyzstan She and M.Festin supported ESC financially, with advice and knowledge and a lot of organisational work in a ESC/WHO teaching the teachers workshop in Belgrade 2017 with 15 participants of selected Eastern European countries with little access to education. Many proceedings in improvement of sexual and reproductive health across Europe would not have been possible without Guntas conviction, social consciousness and spirit.