Gender, development and health - Caroline Sweetman

What are the differences between women's and men's experiences of health, sickness and health care? How does our gender identity affect our physical and mental wellbeing? Despite improvements in health indicators in many countries, developing countries are currently facing a health crisis. New diseases like HIV and drug-resistant strains of diseases including malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis, are spreading. Many people in developing countries have never had access to formal medical services. Others have lost their access due to reductions in public spending as a result of structural adjustment policies, international debt repayments and the de-prioritisation of health against other sectors. This book argues that two fundamental changes are needed if both women and men are to achieve better health. The first of these is to ensure equal access to all the resources that men and women need for healthy minds and bodies: not only to medical care, but to food, water, shelter, a source of income and a sense of control over ones life. The second is to ensure that health services and resources enable women and men to meet all their physical and mental health needs. Articles included here focus on understandings of reproductive health; integrating gender issues into infectious disease prevention; the impact of HIV/AIDS on women; working with communities to promote health and on the monitoring and evaluation of health projects from a gender perspective.