This editorial discusses a collection of papers examining gender across a range of health policy and systems contexts, from access to services, governance, health financing, and human resources for health. The papers interrogate differing health issues and core health systems functions using a gender lens. Together they produce new knowledge on the multiple impacts of gender on health experiences and demonstrate the importance of gender analyses and gender sensitive interventions for promoting well-being and health systems strengthening. The findings from these papers collectively show how gender intersects with other axes of inequity within specific contexts to shape experiences of health…
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect the poorest of the poor. NTD programmes can and should rise to the challenge of playing a part in promoting more gender equitable societies. Gender equity shapes poverty and the experience of disease in multiple ways; yet to date, there has been little attention paid to gender equity in NTD control efforts. Drawing on a synthesis of relevant literature, the tacit knowledge and experience of the authors, and discussions at a meeting on women, girls and NTDs, this analysis paper distills five key lessons from over 20 years of gender mainstreaming in health. The paper…
Equity is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 3: ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. Improving health requires accelerated efforts to address inequity, in particular, among marginalised populations who are most affected by the burden of disease. Increasingly, the importance of gender equity within global health leadership is being recognised, and SDG 5: ‘achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ is supported by a target on ensuring women’s equal opportunities for leadership. In many countries, more than 75% of people engaged and working in global health are women,…
Gender equity is imperative to the attainment of healthy lives and wellbeing of all, and promoting gender equity in leadership in the health sector is an important part of this endeavour. This empirical research examines gender and leadership in the health sector, pooling learning from three complementary data sources: literature review, quantitative analysis of gender and leadership positions in global health organisations and qualitative life histories with health workers in Cambodia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The findings highlight gender biases in leadership in global health, with women underrepresented. Gender roles, relations, norms and expectations shape progression and leadership at multiple levels.…
This chapter explores how gender analysis can be incorporated into health systems implementation research. This is the process of analysing how gendered power relations influence the implementation of an intervention, as well as the extent to which the research process itself progressively transforms gendered power relations, or at least does not exacerbate them.
Despite the importance of incorporating gender analysis into existing research programmes, it is not without its challenges. This brief outlines some of these challenges, along with ways in which Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGs): Building Stronger Health Systems has responded to them. RinGs is a cross research programme consortium (RPC) bringing together three health systems RPCs – Future Health Systems, ReBUILD, and RESYST – to better understand gendered dynamics in health systems and to galvanise gender analysis in health systems research.
Gender—the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for males, females and other genders—affects how people live, work and relate to each other at all levels, including in relation to the health system. Health systems research (HSR) aims to inform more strategic, effective and equitable health systems interventions, programs and policies; and the inclusion of gender analysis into HSR is a core part of that endeavour. We outline what gender analysis is and how gender analysis can be incorporated into HSR content, process and outcomes . Starting with HSR content, i.e. the substantive focus of HSR,…
The Living Peace four year project is being implemented in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country where conflict has led to millions of deaths, mass displacement, and many victims and perpetrators of violence. In addition, DRC exhibits a prevalence of highly inequitable, violent partner relationships driven by childhood experiences of violence, gender inequitable beliefs, power inequalities, economic stress and insufficient coping mechanisms around post-conflict trauma. Living Peace provides psychosocial support through group therapy for men (and their partners) to reduce sexual and gender based violence, promote healing, restore relationships and rebuild communities in postconflict settings. The aim of the…
This brief examines the reform of health systems in post-conflict settings through a gender lens, using the World Health Organization’s health system building blocks as a framework. Research into the importance of reconstructing health systems after a crisis or war is relatively new, therefore literature discussing challenges and best practices related to gender equity is weak and the evidence base limited. Further study is clearly needed into the impact of strengthening the health system on gender equity.
This policy brief looks at the context of gender and health, and how they are affected by conflict. It also assesses whether humanitarian assistance in the immediate post- conflict period addresses the impact of conflict on health from a gender perspective. A second sister brief examines long-term reform of the health system through a gender lens, using the World Health Organization’s health system building blocks as a framework.