Feminist, rights-based solutions to address NCDs: Meaningful and active participation of women and girls in health planning, programming, and monitoring.

Towards a global call-to-action to close the gender health gap

At the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 67) in March 2023, global leaders, researchers, and advocates highlighted the disproportionate burden of NCD and associated risk factors and persistent gaps faced by women and girls in accessing NCD-related information, prevention, timely diagnosis, services, and support.

In response, civil society raised a call to action, setting out four priority actions for Member States to achieve progress towards the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and improve health services and outcomes for women and girls.

The call-to-action outlines feminist solutions to addressing NCDs along four strategic areas:

1. Scale up grassroots innovations creating equitable solutions for NCD prevention and control;
2. Integrate NCD services, including digital health solutions, into primary health care;
3. Support the full, meaningful, and active participation of women and girls in health-related decisions, including health planning, programming, and monitoring, and
4. Strengthen the evidence base on sex differences and gender inequities.

This article is the third in a four-part series discussing key aspects and concrete examples of feminist, rights-based solutions to address NCDs outlined in the call to action.

Support the full, meaningful and active participation of women and girls in health-related decisions, including health planning, programming, and monitoring

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), women must have equal access to political power and leadership roles. To date, women remain underrepresented in decision-making at all levels globally, making political gender parity a distant goal in countries around the world.

Gender parity in global health entails the meaningful engagement of women and girls in health-related decision-making at policy, programme and individual levels.

Recognising every individual’s right to participate in health decisions that affect them, the WHO Framework for Meaningful Engagement of People Living with Noncommunicable Diseases, and Mental Health and Neurological Conditions calls on governments to ensure that people living with NCDs are actively involved in all aspects of the NCD response that ultimately affect them, including governance, policies, programmes, and services.

Knowledge

WHO framework for meaningful engagement of people living with noncommunicable diseases, and mental health and neurological conditions

Noting that fewer than 5% of leadership positions in global health are held by women from low-and-middle income countries, the WHO Framework charts the way towards a more equitable redistribution of power within global decision-making spaces that can address historic gender inequalities.

The WHO Framework also emphasizes the importance of inclusivity and intersectionality in meaningful engagement and the need to account for how individual identities such as sex, gender and sexual orientation interact with health conditions, resulting in diverse lived experiences of discrimination, access to health services and more.

Alongside  the NCD Alliance Global Charter on Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs, the WHO Framework is part of a growing movement within global health to include a diverse range of perspectives and voices that have been marginalized in policy and programme development, including women and gender minorities.

Background: Feminist, rights-based innovations, and solutions to address NCDs

The landscape of women’s health has transformed over recent decades. Improved maternal and neonatal health programs, demographic changes, urbanization and shifts in global dietary and behavioral habits mean that NCDs are now the leading causes of death among women and girls globally. Two out of three women die from an NCD  – including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions– accounting for 19 million deaths every year, a majority of which occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Gender is a major social and structural driver of inequity in health, which is both linked to and exacerbated by NCDs and their associated risk factors. In many countries, women face limited access to timely, safe, and quality health services and information. Similarly, they are often more exposed to NCDs and their risk factors due to persistent social, gender and economic inequalities. Globally, health conditions that affect women more than men garner less funding.

The right of women, girls, and gender minorities to participate in decisions concerning their health and wellbeing and access affordable, quality healthcare at every stage of their lives is a cornerstone of health equity. A feminist approach to addressing NCDs can reduce discrimination and support gender-equitable health and development commitments. To close the gender health gap, developing and supporting grassroot innovations and collaborations that harness new technology, context-relevant research and implementation on the ground offer promising initiatives to reduce premature deaths from NCDs that are worth supporting and scaling.

Support the Call to Action and join the Women & NCDs community on KAP

Community

Women and NCDs

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News

Feminist, rights-based solutions to address NCDs: Strengthening the evidence base on sex differences and gender inequities.