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Dr. Bismah Nayyer
Founder/Director and Global Health Professional
Global Health Connect
Biography
Dr. Bismah Nayyer is a public-health and feminist advocacy professional and the founder of Global Health Connect, a Pakistan-based organisation working on gender, menstrual health, femtech, policy and public engagement. Over the past decade, she reports working with government, UN systems and civil society to develop advocacy campaigns, shape policy conversations and communicate health issues for local audiences. Her work includes initiatives on sexual and reproductive health and rights, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, gender-sensitive climate action and health communications. She is available for speaking, media commentary, training and collaboration.
Areas of Expertise
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), menstrual health and dignity, gender integration, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), knowledge translation, health communications, health systems, feminist advocacy, gender and climate, femtech and AI governance.
Selected Experience & Achievements
- Selected for the Pakistan Women Leaders Project mentorship programme (EU-funded, UN Women and TDEA), October 2026
- Developing SYGNAL, a consent and algorithmic-accountability audit standard for femtech AI (6 domains, 64 indicators), being piloted in Pakistan
- Leading Invisible Resilience, a study of SRHR and menstrual health for women with psychosocial disabilities in flood-affected care facilities, funded by the Urgent Action Fund Asia and Pacific Resourcing Resilience grant
- Co-authored the chapter “Advocacy campaigns” in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Menstruation and Society (Vol. 1, pp. 18 to 23), May 2026
- Selected as a mentor for Fempure’s MHM Catalyst Training of Trainers, Pakistan’s first internationally certified MHD ToT, under Fòs Feminista’s Sang Pour Sang project, reaching 100 educators across Punjab, Sindh, KP, Balochistan and AJK, May 2026
- Showcased the Period Pain Simulator at the Breathe Pakistan International Climate Conference and selected as one of four Climate Solutions ventures (Dawn Media), May 2026
- Won the Mad for Films and Sony Alpha 100K Vertical Film Fund with “Men Get Periods,” chosen from 138 synopses, May 2026
- Guest speaker on integrating SRHR into climate policy and gender-responsive disaster response at the FDI HER Climate Fellowship (Cohort V), April 2026
- Built and piloted “Mapping the Flow,” an interactive dashboard of menstrual health organisations and interventions across Pakistan, based on the national mapping of 50+ civil society organisations for Fòs Feminista’s Sang Pour Sang project, July 2025. The demo version is now live
- Senior Advisor for Gender at Saheli, where she presented primary data from five flood-affected provinces to the Governor of KP and secured a commitment to gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction pilots
- Honoured with the PIWDC Women Taboo Breaker Award, 2025
- Board Member, Menstrual Rights Global, since March 2025
- Organised Pakistan’s first Period Cramps Challenge stand-up comedy in February 2025, featuring a male comedian performing live while wearing the Period Pain Simulator, turning menstrual stigma into a public conversation
- Founded Global Health Connect in August 2024, launching four initiatives and leading six campaigns in the first year; published in PLOS Speaking of Medicine, BJPsych International (Cambridge University Press), The Lancet Regional Health, South East Asia, and WHO Europe and WHO HQ publications