About the Gender & Health Hub
Bridging the gap between knowledge, policy and action
Coordinated by the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health UNU-IIGH, the Gender & Health Hub aims to bridge the gap between knowledge, policy and action while building a diverse community of stakeholders.
The Hub brings together global experts, practitioners and thought leaders in gender and health from the UN, global health organisations, academia, governments, and civil society with a time-bound mandate to:
1) define the most pressing policy questions that, if answered, will catalyse action towards 2030;
2) prioritise, guide, conduct and interpret research and analyses on what works; and
3) communicate and apply learning and evidence to accelerate action and impact.
Visit the Gender & Health Hub website for policy-relevant research, best practices, events and networks to support gender integration in health programming
Image: Pixabay.
How we work?
Why it matters?
Despite progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for 2030, the world is still off track. The SDG to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’ (SDG3) is inextricably linked to gender equality (SDG 5), as is any progress towards universal health coverage. Although health systems and programmes can do better to promote gender equality, there has been a lack of evidence, systematic documentation, and learning on what works to effectively integrate gender in health.
Ongoing projects and activities
What works to integrate gender in government health programs: Lessons from Promising Practices in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia – To further advance on the gains made in improving health outcomes and gender equality, particularly given the setbacks due to COVID-19, it is critical to take stock of how gender has been integrated into large scale health programs to generate learning supporting policy transfer across regional contexts, This project aims to create an evidence-base of critical factors that led to successful gender integration in government health programmes at regional or national level through an analysis of between 8-10 cases in the following regions: African, South Asian, and South-East Asian.
Our knowledge products
Developed by the SDG3 Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-Being: Gender Equality Working Group, and the Gender and Health Hub, United Nations University International Institute for Global Health
2. Article | COVID-19: the turning point for gender equality
Written by Senait Fisseha, Gita Sen, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Winnie Byanyima, Debora Diniz, Henrietta H Fore, Natalia Kanem, Ulrika Karlsson, Rajat Khosla, Laura Laski, Dina Mired, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Geeta Rao Gupta, Achim Steiner, Michelle Remme, Pascale Allotey
3. Think Piece | The Disconnect Between “Gender-Transformative” Language and Action in Global Health
By Dr Anju Malhotra, UNU-IIGH
4. Podcast | The Disconnect Between “Gender Transformative” Language and Action in Global Health
By Johanna Riha, Research Fellow at UNU-IIGH and host of this podcast episode. Guest speakers include Anju Malhotra, Principal Visiting Fellow at UNU-IIGH, Jennifer McCleary-Sills, Senior Program Officer, Gender Equality at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Geeta Rao Gupta, Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation
5. Policy brief | Gender and COVID-19: A Global Research Agenda
By Lavanya Vijayasingham, Asha George, Claudia Lopes, Mamothena Mothupi & Michelle Remme
Written by Calum Handforth and Claudia Abreu Lopes, UNU-IIGH
7. Blog piece | How Technology is Being Used to Tackle the ‘Shadow Pandemic’
Written by Calum Handforth, Amanda Dorsey, and Claudia Abreu Lopes, UNU-IIGH
8. Think Piece | Collective Power for Gender Equality: An Unfinished Agenda for the UN
By Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun and Joanne Sandler
9. Podcast | Collective Power for Gender Equality: An Unfinished Agenda for the UN
By Johanna Riha, Research Fellow at UNU-IIGH and host of this podcast episode. Guest speakers include Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Senior Consultant at and member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network and Joanne Sandler, Senior Associate at Gender at Work
Key Events
The UNU Gender and Health Hub: A nexus to people, knowledge, policy and action for gender equality at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (March 2021)
Building a feminist health sector in response to Covid-19 at the Generation Equality Forum (June 2021)
Women, Health and Gender equality: Commit, accelerate, scale up at the UN General Assembly (September 2021)