Paper

Brings together evidence and experience from around the world focusing on making health systems more gender responsive. Uses a framework that combines WHO's six building blocks for health systems and the primary health care reforms propounded in the World Health Report 2008 on primary health care. Also provides examples of what has worked and how, and ends with an agenda for action to strengthen the work of policy-makers, their advisers and development partners as well as practitioners as they seek to integrate gender equality perspectives into health systems strengthening, including primary health care reforms.

Analyzing virtually all published research that supports the claims of "human brain organization theory" that sex differences are hardwired into the brain, the author shows how often these studies fail the standards of science. She argues that the analysis of gender differences deserves far more rigorous, biologically sophisticated science.

The intersection of public washrooms and gender has become increasingly politicized in recent years: queer and trans folk have been harassed for allegedly using the 'wrong' washroom, while widespread campaigns have advocated for more gender-neutral facilities. Cavanagh explores how public toilets demarcate the masculine and the feminine and condition ideas of gender and sexuality. Based on 100 interviews with GLBT and/or intersex peoples in major North American cities, the author delves into the ways that queer and trans communities challenge the rigid gendering and heteronormative composition of public washrooms. She argues that the cultural politics of excretion is intimately related to the regulation of gender and sexuality and asserts that although toilets are not typically considered within traditional scholarly bounds, they form a crucial part of our modern understanding of sex and gender.

A study by researchers at the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research that concluded that the practice of sex- and gender-based analysis has still not been “internalized” or “mainstreamed by the community of pharmaceutical policy researchers. The author’s state that “increased application of SGBA is, in most cases, not only appropriate for the topics under investigation, but well within the reach of today's pharmaceutical policy researchers.”

Report of an online discussion, held from 23 November 2009 – 25 January 2010, as part of a series of United Nations online discussions dedicated to the fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000). Participants included officials from the Ministry of Health (MOH) from a range of countries, United Nations, specialized and other international organizations, philanthropic foundations, health-care providers, programme managers, gender and other specialists and health-related practitioners and civil society from around the world.

Report cards on child and family poverty stating,“Canada’s economic recovery hinges on federal leadership to pull recession victims out of the poor house and prevent Canadians from plunging into deeper poverty.” Compares most recent child and family poverty rate compared to 21 years ago, when Parliament unanimously resolved to end child poverty by 2000, and finds that 610,000 children (2008 LICO after-tax) and their families lived in poverty even before the recession hit.

A book that explores a number of important, though often unasked questions: Why are women more likely to be diagnosed as mad than men? If madness is a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we better understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? Can we prevent or treat this distress in a way that doesn't pathologize women? Presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women's madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and acknowledges the reality and causes of women's distress.

Showcases population health intervention research (PHIR) in Canada with the over-arching theme of health equity. Organized and presented within three broad categories: exploring implementation processes that support PHIR; evaluating setting-specific programs; and researching multi-component, community-wide interventions. Explores the theoretical and methodological approaches used in the field of PHIR; demonstrates impact and lessons learned; illustrates uptake by program planners and policy decision-makers; and identifies implications for research, policy and practice.

Finds some significant differences between women and men when looking at obesity, showing, for example, that income is more strongly related to obesity for women than for men. Also finds that income, rural residence and minority status (mainly Aboriginal) are related to obesity in women and men even when controlling for health (or lifestyle) behaviours, such as inactivity, fruit and vegetable consumption and alcohol use. Their analysis of obesity is limited, as the authors note, by fact that data on “access to healthy foods and food outlets, consumption of traditional diets, caloric density, marketing of foods and beverages high in sugar and fat to children, and portion sizes have not been considered in the analysis.” The report was also limited by other factors, such as the fact that those not reporting body mass index (BMI) measurement (e.g. pregnant women) were excluded

Report found that the country could save up to $180 million a year if doctors consistently offered the most appropriate and most cost-effective procedures to their patients. Showed that there are vast discrepancies in the number of caesarian sections and hysterectomies performed in Canada, suggesting some of those procedures are not needed. Also found too many procedures are still being done despite evidence that indicates they don’t help patients, such as surgery for knee pain.  Highlights areas where efficiencies can be made in how medical treatments are delivered