Health Equity and Human Rights is a woman-owned company operating out of Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The mission of Health Equity and Human Rights is to protect the right to health and well-being of all by supporting the implementation of evidence-based health systems and services. In particular, the company works on activities that support the efforts of institutions and agencies focusing on improving the health and well-being of children and their families in low- and middle-income countries through technical support for knowledge management (including by developing publications and tools, summarizing technical meetings and inputs, and disseminating evidence), as well as monitoring and evaluation and implementation research to help governments and their partners implement more evidence-based policies and programs.
Mission Statement
· UNICEF New York. October 2021 – present. Co-lead the Secretariat for the Equity Reference Group for Immunization on behalf of UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which involves strategic planning, organizing content for quarterly meetings, and preparing products for dissemination. Oversee various technical activities to inform UNICEF’s work on gender-related barriers to health and immunization, including creating geographic information systems (GIS) maps of gender-related barriers in countries, developing content for an online learning tool and an interactive planning tool for pro-equity strategies (both available here: https://www.ige.health/), and participating in the multi-partner Gender and Equality Alliance Working Group to support coordination, strategic planning and prioritization activities. Co-developed the e-learning course “Addressing Gender Gaps in Vaccinations and Immunization: A Life-Course Approach" in collaboration with the United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health, GAVI, and the Asian Development Bank Institute: ADBI E-Learning Homepage.
· World Health Organization, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. September 2023 – present. Technical support for preparation of Request for Proposals and review of submitted proposals for mentor institutions on implementation research in Ghana and Pakistan. Technical support for prioritization of research priorities and selection of research studies in Pakistan.
· Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC. April 2022 – present. Work with in-country partners to develop a learning agenda, and guidance and implementation tools for USAID’s multi-award MOMENTUM program, specifically relating to implementation of the Global Model of Small and Sick Newborn Care. Ensure the systematic collection, analysis, synthesis, use, translation, and dissemination of data and learning from across the entire suite of awards to inform both internal programmatic decision-making and the global evidence base for maternal newborn child health, family planning and reproductive health (MNCH/FP/RH).
· UNICEF New York. September – December 2023. Provided technical support to the Gender and Immunization teams to develop a set of core indicators that will help countries improve their measurement and monitoring of gender-related barriers to immunization. Compiled and reviewed existing measures and evidence, identified individuals and groups with related expertise, convened a global meeting with interested stakeholders to discuss potential measurement issues and indicators, and developed guidance for country implementation of gender and immunization measurement activities.
· World Health Organization. September – December 2023. Editorial support to finalize the guide “Measuring and monitoring the quality of health services to improve care for women, newborns and children: a practical guide for programme managers.”
· World Health Organization. December 2022 – May 2023. Lead writer for the world’s first joint global report on maternal mortality, newborn mortality and stillbirths, Improving maternal and newborn health and survival and reducing stillbirth - Progress report 2023. Conducted analysis of data from 106 countries reporting into the Joint Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) Tracking Tool. Report launched in May 2023 at the International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference, Cape Town, South Africa.
· World Health Organization. December 2022 – May 2023. Conducted a review of country COVID Preparedness and Response Plans to identify those with content related to maternal, newborn, child, adolescent and aging health. Developed a report and manuscript.
· UNICEF South Africa. March 2023 – April 2024. Advise the South African National Department of Health and UNICEF South Africa on the Zero-Dose Children In-Depth Qualitative Assessment by reviewing institutional proposals, protocols, data collection tools, and consent forms and contributing to the conduct of the study, and development of a final report and manuscript for publication.
· UNICEF New York. May – July 2022. Produced a background paper for UNICEF’s flagship State of the World’s Children 2023 report, summarizing key evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic responses on health systems, particularly on routine immunization.
Sample Work
Alyssa Sharkey
Owner
Dr Alyssa Sharkey is a Lecturer in the School of Policy and International Affairs at Princeton University where she is affiliated with both the Center for Health and Wellbeing, and the Office for Population Research. She teaches classes on Inequities in Health, Current Challenges in Global Health and Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Her research areas include maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, equity and immunization, gender-related barriers to health services, health system strengthening and implementation research to improve health programs in collaboration with health policymakers.
Between 2010 and 2021, she was a Senior Health Specialist with UNICEF working in both their Headquarters and South Asia Regional Offices. Over the past 25 years, Alyssa has worked as a health policy analyst, program officer, and policy researcher within a variety of academic, research and non-governmental settings both internationally and in the United States. She currently consults for UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Population Reference Bureau.
Dr Sharkey has Master of Health Science and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Master of Science (Medicine) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.