When women win, we all win—Call for a gendered global NCD agenda

Abstract

Gender is a social determinant of health, interacting with other factors such as income, education, and housing and affects health care access and health care outcomes. This paper reviews key literature and policies on health disparities and gender disparities within health. It examines noncommunicable disease (NCD) health outcomes through a gender lens and challenges existing prevailing measures of success for NCD outcomes that focus primarily on mortality. Chronic respiratory disease, one of the four leading contributors to NCD mortality, is highlighted as a case study to demonstrate the gender gap. Women have different risk factors and higher morbidity for chronic respiratory disease compared to men but morbidity is shadowed by a penultimate research focus on mortality, which results in less attention to the gap in women's NCD outcomes. This, in turn, affects how resources, programs, and interventions are implemented. It will likely slow progress in reducing overall NCD burden if we do not address risk factors in an equitable fashion. The article closes with recommendations to address these gender gaps in NCD outcomes. At the policy level, increasing representation and inclusion in global public health leadership, prioritizing NCDs among marginalized populations by global health societies and political organizations, aligning the gendered global NCD agenda with other well‐established movements will each catalyze change for gender‐based disparities in global NCDs specifically. Lastly, incorporating gender‐based indicators and targets in major NCD‐related goals and advancing gender‐based NCD research will strengthen the evidence base for women's unique NCD risks and health outcomes.

Knowledge of gendered needs among the planners and policy makers for prevention of NCDs in Bangladesh: a qualitative exploration

“…Gender was acknowledged as a significant driver of women’s reproductive health at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, 1994, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing [ 8 – 10 ]. Following the Cairo Declaration, research on issues relating to women’s reproductive health increased and was prioritized by funding agencies, while research into the high burden of NCDs among women was neglected in comparison [ 11 , 12 ]. This was even though two out of every three women die from NCDs [ 11 ].…”

Tailoring Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment through a Sex and Gender Lens

“…As to chronic or noncommunicable diseases (NCD), the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has revealed several gender disparities, both in terms of mortality and morbidity burden, in cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, diabetes, renal disease, asthma, autoimmune diseases, migraine, spondyloarthritis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, stroke, autism, depression, anxiety, and others [ 9 , 10 ]. Achieving equitable improvements in NCD morbidity and death requires recognizing and resolving these disparities.…”