2025 UHC Day Champion
Fátima (pseudonym)
Petitioner before the Human Rights Committee, Guatemala
Browse other champions
- Countries driving UHC progress
- Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite, Founder and President of UNITE - Parliamentarian’s Network for Global Health
- Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Vice Chair and Senior Advisor, International Health Policy Program Foundation, Thailand
- Solange Mbaye, Regional Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Senegal
- Levy Mkandawire, Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Zambia
- Concepta Kwaleyela, President of the Midwives Association of Zambia
- Professor Anne Beatrice Kihara, Former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Kenya
- Hester Mkwinda Nyasulu, Country Manager for Amref, Malawi
- Habibou Ouedraogo, Health Economist, Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso
- Hon. Hyun-Young Shin, Congresswoman, 21st National Assembly of Republic of Korea
We come together to ensure that all girls can grow up healthy, strong, and safe, and can make free and informed decisions about their health and future.
Fátima survived sexual violence as a child and was forced by the State of Guatemala into an unwanted pregnancy and motherhood. The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued a historic ruling holding Guatemala responsible for violating her rights by denying her access to essential sexual and reproductive health services, including legal abortion, and condemning the forced pregnancy as cruel, inhuman, degrading, and discriminatory treatment.
Her story, brought forward under the Niñas, No Madres campaign, shows the urgent need for health systems that uphold universal health coverage: systems that ensure timely access to comprehensive, quality, gender-responsive reproductive health services, especially for girls and adolescents facing structural barriers.
