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Gender

According to the United Nations, gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, affecting access to quality health care, exposure to health risks, and the outcomes of disease and disability—for children and parents alike. Improvements in health, from lower child mortality to greater access to reproductive care, can alter the power to access gender-related rights and freedoms. This section examines the new ways in which health and gender intersect and reinforce each other

Gender

1 in 3

Nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime

Nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence

Using AI to Track Gender-Based Violence

One Woman

Cervical cancer claims the lives of one woman every two minutes

Cervical cancer claims the lives of one woman every two minutes

USAID Cuts Could Sever HPV Prevention

678

In Kenya, at least 678 women and girls were murdered by intimate partners from 2016 to 2024

Gender-Based Violence in Kenya and U.S. Foreign Aid

190 M

More than 190 million women worldwide live with endometriosis

When Endometriosis Causes Mental Illness

When Endometriosis Causes Mental Illness

8%

Online-only abortion clinics were found to account for 8% of abortions in the first half of 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Challenge to Abortion Pills Could Boost Illegal Imports

U.S. Supreme Court Challenge to Abortion Pills Could Boost Illegal Imports

Four Times

Women do up to four times more unpaid care work than men, a gap that will take 210 years to close

Seeking Gender Equality in the Global Health Workforce

Seeking Gender Equality in the Global Health Workforce

16%

Unsafe abortions already make up 16% of all maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa

Roe's Repeal Inspires Abortion Rollbacks in Other Countries

Roe's Repeal Inspires Abortion Rollbacks in Other Countries

48 Million

82.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced by the end of 2020—more than half were women and girls

Displaced girls and women

Periods Don't Stop For Conflict

70 Percent

70 percent of health-care workers are women

Women health-care workers

Women in Health Care: A Call for Pandemic Equity

1 in 4

One in four U.S. women will have an abortion by age 45

Abortion in the United States

"Pregnant People Will Die as a Result of Overturning Roe v. Wade"

Featured

A woman holds her baby at the Sanctum Hospice and Care Home, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on January 26, 2023.

The Mysterious Rise in Canada's Maternal Mortality

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A Lancet study charts global maternal mortality, spotting an unexplained increase in Canada

Centering Women, Children, and Adolescents in Global Health Reform

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In an era of fiscal pressure, omission does not produce neutrality; it can produce retrenchment by default

Health workers attend to a mother and her infant at the Mother and Child Hospital, in Kasoa, Ghana, on November 19, 2025.

Indonesia's Efforts to Lead Cervical Cancer Elimination

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The country's ambitious vaccination and treatment strategies seek to eliminate its cervical cancer burden by 2027

Women workers plant beans, in Majalaya, Indonesia, on October 12, 2017.

Birth Registration to Improve Health Equity

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Millions of newborns lack birth certificates, but governments and investors have new opportunities to build digital identification

A newborn baby's inked feet are seen after his footprints were taken for the birth certificate, at the Santa Ana public maternity hospital, in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 19, 2011.

Why 1 in 3 People Worldwide Suffer From Headaches

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Pain medication misuse can stem from inadequate awareness around the global burden of headaches

A horizontal bar chart titled “Headaches Cause More Harm in Women.” The chart shows age-standardized years lived with disability (YLDs) per 100,000 people in 2023, comparing women (dark blue) and men (yellow). For all headache disorders, women experience roughly twice the YLDs of men. The gap is larger for migraine, with women showing substantially higher disability than men. For tension-type headache, disability levels are much lower overall but remain higher in women than men. Source: IHME; chart by CFR/Allison Krugman for Think Global Health.

Standardizing Sex: A Century of Trans Medicine in Scandinavia

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A new book by physician-historian Ketil Slagstad analyzes a formative period for trans medicine

A supporter wears a pro-trans ribbon, in Seattle, Washington, on February 28, 2025.

The Money and Risks Behind Human Egg Donation

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U.S. egg donation is a $400 million sector, but a dearth of federal oversight means some health risks go unmeasured

The Money and Risks Behind Human Egg Donation

Netflix's Adolescence: Social Change Through Edutainment

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The evidence behind the power of educational entertainment to prevent violence against women and children

Netflix's Adolescence: Social Change Through Edutainment

Using AI to Track Gender-Based Violence

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Artificial intelligence allows safe GBV monitoring and reporting in low- or middle-income countries where data is scarce

Using AI to Track Gender-Based Violence

A Gender Levy for Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Health-Harming Products

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Industries hijack gender norms to sell harm—let's flip the script and fund gender-smart health with sin tax revenue

A Gender Levy for Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Health-Harming Products

Women Bear Mexico's Diabetes Crisis

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Nearly 10% of Mexico's population lives with diabetes, and women are diagnosed at higher rates than men

Women Bear Mexico's Diabetes Crisis

Reimagining Sexual and Reproductive Health Without U.S. Involvement

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The Helms Amendment and the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, are moot without U.S. aid funding

Reimagining Sexual and Reproductive Health Without U.S. Involvement