How can we build gender-responsive health systems? Participate in the online consultation

Gender equality, including equal rights and equal access to health services, are critical to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and leaving no one behind. However, UHC2030’s state of UHC commitment review found that UHC processes are still gender-blind, and that there is a lack of commitment towards increasing women’s representation in health and political leadership.

As a co-convenor of the Alliance for Gender Equality and UHC, Women in Global Health (WGH), along with UHC2030, invite you to participate in an online consultation on how to make health systems gender responsive in order to accelerate progress towards achieving UHC by 2030. Your feedback will help us develop an advocacy brief on gender-responsive health systems.

The 2023 Political Declaration on UHC builds on the commitments established in 2019 to mainstream gender into UHC, with a view to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women through health policies and health systems delivery. It focuses on accelerating implementation and emphasizes the fundamental role of primary health care, including community-based health services. This resolution also:

• Recognizes the link between UHC and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response
• Calls for increased mobilization of domestic public resources as a major source of financing for UHC
• Reaffirms its commitment to ensuring women’s equitable leadership in decision-making in health and addressing gender inequalities
• Promotes participatory and inclusive approaches to health governance through multi-stakeholder engagement

By providing evidence of what works in building gender-responsive health systems, the advocacy brief will serve as a powerful resource for civil society organizations, communities, decision makers and other stakeholders to hold leaders accountable for these commitments and to advocate for increased and sustained investments to ensure gender equality is mainstreamed in the health workforce and in health systems design, delivery, financing and governance.

Through a desk review and a series of consultations with key stakeholders, the advocacy brief will identify and present good practice examples for each of the building blocks of gender-responsive health systems: health service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, health systems financing, health leadership and governance. The brief will be launched by UHC Day on 12 December 2023.

Click here to access the survey. 

The survey should take 20 minutes to fill out. You are invited to give feedback on challenges, good practice examples, key messages and actions. You may respond as an individual or as a representative of your country, organization or community.

The deadline to respond is October 15, 2023.

More details are available here.