What is gender responsiveness in health?
The integration of gender issues in health concerns more than the biological differences between males and females and the womens reproductive role. Gender in health acknowledges the effects of social, political, economic, and spiritual determinants on relationships and responsibilities of men and women, boys and girls and the concurrent differential impacts on: • Health risks and protective factors; • Access to resources to protect health; • Manifestation, severity, and frequency of disease; • Health seeking behavior; • Social, economic and cultural outcomes of ill health and disease; • Response of health systems and services; and • Roles of women and men as formal and informal health care providers. Gender in health looks at the roots of health seeking behavior and seeks to improve health outcomes for both female and male populations, regardless of factors such as age, ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic status. It cannot be assumed that health programmes and policies affect men,
