Master of Public Health from American University of Beirut (AUB)

Additional Degrees and Certifications:
• MD from Cairo University

Awards Received:

Award:
Young Leader
Awarding Organization:
Women Deliver
Date Awarded:
May 25, 2015

Award:
Master program Scholarship
Awarding Organization:
The Special Programme for Research and Training on Tropical Diseases (TDR) hosted at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva
Date Awarded:
August 15, 2015

Award:
Grant Winner
Awarding Organization:
Staying Alive Foundation and MTV
Date Awarded:
June 15, 2010

Norhan Bader is a physician and has been working in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights for more than nine years. Currently, she is working as director of projects at International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP). She was a Program Specialist in the Health Management and Research Unit at the Center for Development Services (CDS) for almost two years. She was a member of International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) for seven years and got elected by the General Assembly as Vice President for External Affairs in Cairo Local branch. She is one of the Young Leaders in the Women Deliver Young Leaders program. As a researcher, she is interested in studying such topics as Female Genital Cutting (FGC), Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), puberty and sexuality, and unmet need for family planning. She has experience in providing training to medical students, people living with HIV, Syrian refugees, and youth and adolescents. Norhan graduated with her medical degree from Kasr AlAiny Medical School – Cairo University. She has been awarded a scholarship by the World Health Organization’s Special Programme for Research and Training on Tropical Diseases to pursue her master’s degree in public health, with a concentration in health promotion and community health, at the American University of Beirut.

I have tackled family planning since 2007 via three major themes: (i) through raising capacities of multiple NGOs and youth initiatives to empower youth and vulnerable populations such as: PLWHIV, Syrian refugees, and married adolescents to increase their opportunities of autonomy and informed decisions, while learning additionally about sexuality education, HIV/AIDS and SGBV, (ii) the engagement and training of future physicians to address to family planning needs and shape their responses in clinical settings to be ethical and rights-based to diminish the impact of stigma on access to care, where I cumulatively worked with more than 1500 beneficiaries, and (iii) performing studies to analyze and assess the quality of the messages addressed to youth in Arabic sexual health websites.

I appreciated the belonging to a large family, yet I observed the accumulating burden on my parents. When I began working as an assistant maternal health researcher in Upper Egypt, I observed the impact of high fertility rates in impoverished communities that was evident by national surveys that demonstrated the burden of unmet needs and lack of access to information. Furthermore, there were cases of violations of adolescent girls’ rights thus I shifted my attention to FP and vulnerable groups.

Young Egyptian advocates and I have created the National Youth Taskforce for Development, with the cooperation of the National Population Council (NPC). It shared in formulation and adoption of Reproductive Health Strategies in the 2030 National Development Strategy in Egypt. We facilitated youth participation and consultation regarding these strategies such as, youth friendly services and access to contraception. Outcomes were presented to policymakers and incorporated in the 2030 strategy.

In addition to resuming my responsibilities as the Director of Projects at International Youth Alliance for Family Planning, I will use the platform to cooperate and develop FP oriented interventions for youth. Part of the grant would fund a mixed methods study for assessment of predictors of informed decision, autonomy and empowerment among married adolescents and youth in Egypt regarding FP and SRHR. The other part will be for attending the Adolescent Health in LMICs course at LSHTM.