Gender and global health: evidence, policy, and inconvenient truths

Abstract

In this article the authors survey the evidence for the role of gender in health status analyze responses to gender by key global health actors and propose strategies for mainstreaming gender-related evidence into policies and programs. Using the WHO definition of gender the article attempts to disentangle and quantify the exact contributions that sex and gender make to health status which often interact with other social determinants of health. The authors analyzed the recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) from a gender perspective. Data from this study are intended to help policy makers to set priorities and allocate resources according to population health needs. Evidence shows that gender – a social construct – has a substantial effect on health behaviors access to health care and health system responses. The tendency to underplay or misunderstand the role of gender or to equate the gender dimensions of health solely with the specific health needs of women has led to a failure to address the evidence of gendered determinants that affect and drive the burden of ill health of both men and women.