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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
Anisa Mangal on May 14, 2019 holds a photo of her daughter Mena Mangal, an Afghan journalist, parliamentary adviser, and advocate of women's rights who was killed last year in Kabul, Afghanistan. Picture shows the mother stermly looking at the camera holding a photo of her daughter. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

Caring for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Afghanistan
by Manizha Ashna - June 30, 2020

Health workers can treat, speak up for, seek justice for, and empower survivors of gender-based violence

Gender
A woman living with HIV/AIDS stands in her hut in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri on July 23, 2005. The photo shows the woman with a wrap covering her mouth. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Silenced Voices in Global Health

by Katri Bertram, Ngozi Erondu, Madhukar Pai

The field has come a long way from its colonial past, but global health still falls short of being diverse and inclusive

Gender
A mother kisses her child as she walks past graffiti in Mumbai on March 27, 2014. The image is striking with a large, artistic image behind a woman who is walking and holding a child. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Human Development is the Best Contraceptive—Why India Does Not Need a Two-Child Norm

by Poonam Muttreja

Key to harnessing potential of India is enhancing capabilities of young people and expanding freedoms of girls and women

Latest

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

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
Gender

Afraid to Die, Afraid to Go to the Clinic

by Ruvandhi Nathavitharana, Isabel Foster

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

Jiejin Qiu, six months pregnant with her first baby, poses underwater during a photo shoot at a local wedding photo studio in Shanghai on September 5, 2014—as China began easing its one-child policy. The photo shows the expecting mother floating underwater in a dream-like shot. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Gender

Data for Contraceptive Security Decision-Making

by Thidiane Ndoye, Michael A. Cohen

Newly launched interactive visualization tool will help measure and track access to contraceptives and guide programs