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Gender

According to the United Nations, gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of all seventeen 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. Conversely, 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

132 M

Number of girls out of school worldwide in 2016

Number of girls out of school worldwide in 2016 Number of girls out of school worldwide in 2016

303,000

Women die from complications in pregnancy or child

Women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth Women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth

21%

Unmet need for contraception in sub-Saharan Africa

Need for contraception in sub-Saharan Africa left unmet Need for contraception in sub-Saharan Africa left unmet

2.7 B

Women legally restricted from same jobs as men

Women legally restricted from same job choices as men Women legally restricted from same job choices as men

Featured

Gender
Goodman Makanda, who's involved in efforts to make tuberculosis and COVID-19 testing more acceptable and accessible for South African men, in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa, on March 24th 2019. The photo shows a man sitting in a clinic with various monitors and equipment. An eye exam is visible on the wall. MSF/Jelle Krings

Afraid to Die, Afraid to Go to the Clinic
by Ruvandhi Nathavitharana, Isabel Foster - September 2, 2020

Amplifying tuberculosis survivor perspectives to encourage men to seek care for COVID-19 in South Africa and elsewhere

Gender
"We cannot afford to unsee domestic abuse after COVID-19," the authors write. Here women wearing masks take part in a protest against gender violence in Santiago, Chile, on December 6, 2019. The photo is a striking image of women wearing red masks lined up, each person holding a hand over one eye of the person in front of them. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

Violence in Times of Coronavirus—The Ugly Truth

by Amber Peterman, Megan O’Donnell, Karen Devries, Alessandra Guedes

We cannot afford to unsee domestic abuse after COVID-19—we need a world free from violence against women and children

Gender
A woman walks past a graffiti promoting the fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, on May 22, 2020. This is a striking photo of a woman in a blue dress wearing a facemask walking past a peach-colored wall with a graffiti of the Earth, also wearing a facemask, with bloodshot eyes and crying. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Falling Through the Cracks: COVID-19 and the Rise of Maternal Deaths in Africa

by Marleen Vellekoop, Meshack Acholla, Julia Hanne

Africa’s unified pandemic response has saved lives, but reduced access to routine services puts women’s health in danger

Latest

A member of the LGBT community participates in the annual Diversity March, which this year has been downscaled amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in downtown Montevideo, Uruguay September 25, 2020.
Gender

Writing a More Inclusive Playbook: How COVID-19 Is Impacting LGBTQ+ Communities Around the World

by Samantha Kiernan, Dominic Bocci

Policymakers should heed lessons learned in 2020 to craft a more inclusive and effective pandemic response

A woman walks amid a tent city set up by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) after an earthquake in the Aegean port city of Izmir, Turkey, November 1, 2020.
Gender

An Overlooked Need In Global Emergencies

by Bahar Aldanmaz

Amplified in crises, period poverty is often overlooked in government responses

A woman walks past a graffiti promoting the fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, on May 22, 2020. This is a striking photo of a woman in a blue dress wearing a facemask walking past a peach-colored wall with a graffiti of the Earth, also wearing a facemask, with bloodshot eyes and crying. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Gender

Falling Through the Cracks: COVID-19 and the Rise of Maternal Deaths in Africa

by Marleen Vellekoop, Meshack Acholla, Julia Hanne

Africa’s unified pandemic response has saved lives, but reduced access to routine services puts women’s health in danger