International health organizations

This article discusses how the marketing of controversial drugs in developing countries demonstrates the power and priorities of the pharmaceutical industry. Example highlighted: Estrogen-Progesterone combination drugs. 

This letter outlines Women and Health Protection's objections to efforts by the United States and other countries to limit the scope of diseases covered under the Doha Declaration of November 2001.

Malaria remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A thorough understanding of the gender-related dynamics of treatment-seeking behaviour, as well as of decision-making, resource allocation and financial authority within households is key to ensuring effective malaria control programmes. This information sheet presents evidence about sex, gender and malaria and points out research gaps as well as policy implications.

This document presents the World Health Organization's strategy for integrating gender analysis and actions into its work. It also reproduces resolution WHO60.25 which was adopted by the Sixtieth World Health Assembly in May 2007. The strategy elaborates four strategic directions that aim to enhance and expand WHO's capacity to analyse the role of gender and sex in health and to monitor and address systemic and avoidable gender-based inequalities in health, as follows: building WHO capacity for gender analysis and planning; bringing gender into the mainstream of WHO's management; promoting use of sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis; and establishing accountability. It is intended for all WHO managers, technical and administrative staff because gender is a cross-cutting issue

Reports on women and health – both women’s health needs and their contribution to the health of societies. Women’s health has long been a concern for WHO but today it has become an urgent priority. This report explains why. Using current data, it takes stock of what we know now about the health of women throughout their lives and across the different regions of the world. The key finding of this report is that, despite considerable progress in the past decades, societies throughout the world continue to fail to meet the health care needs of women at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age.

From the introduction:

“Over half a million women die each year due to complications during pregnancy and birth. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, States resolved to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters by the year 2015. This commitment is encapsulated in the Millennium Development Goals, which derive from the Millennium Summit commitments, and which have come to play a defining role in international development efforts. Goal 5 is a commitment to improve maternal health: the reduction of maternal mortality is an outcome chosen to assess progress in this regard. This resolve by States to reduce maternal mortality is not new. However, never before has the issue been given such prominence on the international development agenda.”

Population ageing is a global phenomenon due to improvements in basic health care and living standards as well as declines in fertility rates and rising longevity. Both men and women face discrimination due to old age, but women experience ageing differently. Gender relations structure the entire life cycle, from birth to old age, influencing access to resources and opportunities and shaping life choices at every stage. Good health, economic security and adequate housing are essential requirements of ageing with dignity, but older women in both developed and developing countries face difficulties in accessing these on a basis of equality with men.

Upon returning from Tasmania, the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE) is excited about sharing successes with our international sister centres at the 6th Australian Women's Health Conference, held May 18-21 2010 in Hobart Tasmania. There, our delegates enjoyed an exciting opportunity to share recent work in gender and health planning.  This presentation (PowerPoint) recounted the process, methods, and content developed by the Centre for the delivery of workshops on gender-based analysis to regional health authority staff throughout Manitoba and in parts of Saskatchewan. Successes and challenges in workshop design and delivery were highlighted, including benefits and pitfalls in utilizing health indicator data to illustrate the relevance of gender for health planning.