Gender and health

Intended to generate an understanding of women and healthy living and to contribute to the development of evidence-informed responses to addressing challenges related to healthy living for women in Canada. Argues that healthy living needs to be reframed and embrace a broader concept of health and health issues in order to improve women’s healthy living. Includes (1) an overview of the status of women in Canada and the healthy living discourse; (2) a profile of women and healthy living; (3) healthy living strategies and promising gender-sensitive intervention; and (4) conclusions.

Contains 103 annotated resources on health data and statistics that take gender into account. Critical for generating evidence on best practices and for advancing and informing health policies, which will improve the health of women and families.

Arose from the “policy dialogue to strengthen evidence to improve women’s health through gender and health statistics,” held in Washington DC in 2010.

In this issue:
Message from the Scientific Director
How I Became a Fan of Sex Differences
Songs of Silence
Trans Pulse: Building Our Communities Through Research
The Stress Between the Sexes
Clearing the Smoke on Parents and Pregnancy: The FACET Journey
Gender Inequities in Health Care: Physicians’ Contributions
Who Smokes and Why: A Much Longer Way to Go, Baby!
From Research to Policy: Improving Sexual Minority Health
Gendering Medical Education
Mentored into Sex and Health Research
The IGH Cochrane Corner

In this issue:

• The Forgotten Sex in Sexual Pain
• At the Crossroads: Healthcare Experiences of Women with Female Genital Cutting
• Married to the Pill: Negotiating a Fifty-Year Relationship
• Who Really Gets Chlamydia?
• Message from the Scientific Director
• KT Monitor | An international symposium speak the unspoken about boys' body image.
• IGH Cochrane Corner | A look at key challenges in sensitizing systematic reviews to sex and gender.
News Briefs
• Trainee Spotlight | 4 questions for Lyndsay Hayhurst

Provides an introduction to how participant-driven visual methods (e.g., photography, video) can be used in gender and health research. Drawing on examples from past research projects the session explores how visual methods enable us to “see” or surface gender in qualitative data. Particular attention is given to the use of visual findings to explore social theories of gender, embodiment, addiction and illness.

A joint policy brief that examines how to reduce gender inequities using health systems. The key messages are:

- Data on mortality, morbidity and use of health services reveal some important differences in health experiences between women and men.
- Health systems can make important contributions to gender equality and gender equity by addressing gender in a variety of ways.
- Identifying gender inequalities and addressing gender equity are also central to good stewardship of health systems.

A training video that acts as a foundational introduction to the field of gender, sex, and health research presented by leading experts in the the field. Participants will expand their understanding of: 1. The differences between sex and gender, while taking into account the complexities of each category (Dr. Joy Johnson); 2. How paradigms inform definitions and designs in gender, sex, and health research (Dr.Blye Frank); 3. The concept of intersectionality, and how other markers of social difference intersect with gender and sex (Dr. Olena Hankivsky); and 4. How gender and sex can be integrated in health research, as well as best practices and emerging innovations in the field (Dr. Gillian Einstein).

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.

Provides practical, "how-to" methodologies and tools on gender that are designed to move health practitioners and managers from awareness and commitment to direct application and practice in policy and program design, implementation, research, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation. This is a companion site to the IGWG website ( http://www.igwg.org/ ) which has become a premier site for gender and reproductive health information, publications, and networking. The eToolkit broadens the set of resources available to USAID staff, contractors, gender experts, and other public health specialists and service providers. It provides access to hundreds of tools, to other gender toolkits and databases, and to prominent gender and health websites throughout the world. The eToolkit will be updated continuously to include new, relevant tools as they become available. Offline copies of the toolkit on CD or flash drive are available upon request.