Integrating a gender perspective into health statistics: an ongoing process in Central America

Abstract

The harmonization of a set of basic national indicators for gender equity analysis in health is a priority for advancing toward the objective of gender equality in the Americas. The availability of gender-sensitive health indicators facilitates informed decision-making and the monitoring of progress toward the achievement of gender equality in health. With the object of helping to strengthen national capacity to integrate a gender perspective into the production, analysis, and use of health indicators, the Gender, Ethnicity, and Health Unit of the Pan American Health Organization has prepared a proposal to guide that process. This proposal includes resources to support interaction between the users and producers of health statistics and an intersectoral approach in health statistics. Implementation of this proposal has yielded significant results at the national level. Intersectoral working groups have been created that are searching for mechanisms to institutionalize the process, publishing statistical profiles on health and gender, as well as brochures of basic indicators on gender, health, and development.