Gender and equity in health sector reform programmes: a review
Standing, H.
Health Policy and Planning 12(1): 1-18
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0268-1080 PMID: 10166098 DOI: 10.1093/heapol/12.1.1Document Number: 207707
Current literature and debates about health sector reform (HSR) in developing countries are reviewed with consideration of the potential implications for women's health and gender equity. Gender is highly relevant with regard to the inequalities of access to health care and men's and women's use and production of health care. All analyses of equity must therefore consider gender. A women's health approach and a gender inequality approach are discussed as the two main approaches to thinking about gender issues in health care. Cassels' framework highlighting the six main components of HSR is applied upon the implications of HSR in relation to both approaches. There is a major lack of information on the impact of HSR from a gender perspective and in relation to substantive forms of vulnerability. More carefully focused data collection and empirical research are called for.