Addressing Sustainable Development Goals in Women’s Health Through Collaborative Governance: A Look at Africa

Abstract

Disparities in healthcare access, quality, and safety are a global phenomenon. While the gaps between developed and developing countries in healthcare are enormous, the gender aspect is equally alarming. Globally, women's health is always at the receiving end, especially in Africa and other continents/regions in the global south. There is a dearth of data on the health of women and girls, hence problems in realistically addressing needed and critical concerns using policy instruments. The recent research partnership to address the data gaps on women's health and to highlight priorities for policymaking and implementation within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework is a welcome relief to many advocates, policymakers, and other critical stakeholders in Africa. This study relies on existing quantitative evidence on global health disparities relative to women, specifically the recently publicized "Hologic Global Women's Health Index" and uses collaborative governance framework for conceptual explication. In essence, the study synthesizes current thinking on the problem of disparities in women's health in Africa and proposes an actionable model to help concurrently foster healthcare access, quality, and safety as a conduit to outcomes that would benefit women and population health in general. To some extent, the study has theory, research, policy, pedagogical and praxis relevance in consonance with emergent knowledge strategies to advancing women's health in Africa.