Gender Equality and Health in Development

Global Health Trends, Issues and Concerns

• The presentation discusses global health trends, issues, and concerns at a global level.
• A word hunt activity is used to find 10 global health issues and concerns.
• Examples of global health issues and concerns include Malaria, Water Safety, Mental Health, Environment, and Tobacco.

Global Health Initiatives

• Global health initiatives are programs and projects to address global health issues, concerns, and trends.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is the primary international body responsible for developing leadership in health, setting norms and standards, and providing health support among nations around the world.
• The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has an intervention program called "Quick Wins" for effective solutions to global health problems

United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

• The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are eight targets that all 191 UN Member States have agreed to achieve by 2015.
• The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits world leaders to fighting discrimination, disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and environmental degradation.

Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger (Goal 1)

• Developing countries in Africa and Asia face extreme poverty and hunger.
• This leads to severe malnutrition, impacting lifelong physical and cognitive development, as well as overall health and economic well-being.
• Key suggestions for eradicating poverty include education, promoting gender equality, creating jobs, investing in agriculture, strengthened nutrition programs for children and infants, and supporting vulnerable countries during crises.

Achieve Universal Primary Education (Goal 2)

• Educated women are more likely to seek and receive medical care during pregnancy.
• They are more likely to ensure proper nutrition of their family, adopt healthy sanitary practices, and ensure immunization of children.
• These practices improve infant and children's survival rates, leading to healthier and better-nourished children.
• Educated children are more likely to marry later, practice family planning, and have fewer children.
• Educated children are also more likely to find employment and meet their personal and family needs.

Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women (Goal 3)

• Gender equality means equal representation of men and women, equal value, and fair treatment.
• Equal treatment and representation of women in all aspects, including education, work, finances, and other sectors, can help to improve the economy and decrease the effects of financial crises.
• Achieving gender equality can be achieved through early childhood development interventions, promoting women's political rights and involvement, improved reproductive health programs, education integrating gender equality in schools, improving women's access to work and strengthening labor policies for women, and providing support and protection for developing and vulnerable countries.

Reduce Child Mortality (Goal 4)

• Programs and policies aimed at reducing child mortality focus on improving nutritional intake, healthcare facilities, infrastructure, and other fields that improve children's overall well-being.
• This includes, strengthening of local and national health programs and policies.
• Practices such as immunization programs, improving reproductive health programs, and policies ensuring better health for mothers and children help to improve child mortality rates.

Improve Maternal Health (Goal 5)

• Maternal health is not just about the health of the mother, but also the health and well-being of the family.
• Maternal health improvement helps in combating poverty, gender inequality, lower birth deaths, disabilities, and decreased workforce.
• Key steps of improving maternal health include improved and proper nutrition of mothers, educating young boys and girls, teaching the benefits of birth spacing and small family size, and an improved access to hospital care.

Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases (Goal 6)

• Emerging and re-emerging diseases including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and influenza affect productivity and growth in nations.
• These diseases lead to job losses, shortage of professional workers, and social crises, particularly affecting children, who are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
• Effective prevention, treatment, and care are important for combating these diseases.
• Ways to combat diseases include improved housing conditions, increased access to anti-malarial medicines, safe sex practices, TB screening, Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (TB-DOTS) therapy, mosquito net use, and other preventive measures.

Ensure Environmental Sustainability (Goal 7)

• Investing in sustainable energy sources like solar, wind, and water energy can help create jobs, create business opportunities, and save non-renewable resources.
• Environmental sustainability improves the living conditions of people, offering healthier and cleaner environments.
• Benefits of a sustainable environment include cleaner air and environment, clean, environment-friendly, and renewable energy, increased job opportunities in energy, and increased access to sanitation.

Global Partnership for Development (Goal 8)

• The United Nations, World Health Organization, and World Bank work together to ensure fair trade practices for heavily indebted countries.
• These efforts include relief and funding for combating poverty, malnutrition, and other issues in heavily indebted countries.
• Initiatives include expanded international trade agreements, improved access to affordable medicines, reduced poverty through government debt relief grants, and developed information and communication technology infrastructure.

Global Prevention and Control of Tobacco and Alcohol Use

• The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a treaty to combat tobacco use, aiming to promote public health, and offering legal means for global health cooperation.
• The initiatives include price and tax measures, prevention from exposure to tobacco smoke, regulation of tobacco product contents, product disclosures, new packaging, education, and demand reduction.
• The Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol recognizes the close ties between harmful alcohol use and socio-economic development. The goal is to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and support initiatives for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.

Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (2013-2020)

• The plan is the product of research, input from countries and organizations and aims to address negative trends, improve access, and prevent rights abuse. The plan aims to be impartial, life-based and preventive in nature.

Activity: Present and Future Global Health Concerns

• The students need to assess the present status of global health issues and concerns, including communicable diseases, tobacco/alcohol use, and mental health.
• The next step in the process is to predict what will happen in the future if these issues are addressed or not addressed appropriately.

Activity: Questions to Ponder (Philippine Scenario)

• The students need to consider how the Philippine government addresses specific health issues and concerns, including HIV/AIDS and tobacco addiction.
• They must identify the major stakeholders and partners who help the government deal with these issues, and consider how these stakeholders could help address the issues.
• Finally, they must consider how educating youth can increase awareness and create a socially conscious generation, allowing them to effectively respond to global health concerns and threats.

UNDP's Quick Wins

• The UNDP has listed several initiatives for Quick Wins which are actions available within communities/countries to support the Millennium Development Goals.
• These initiatives include initiatives for better education, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and global development partnerships.

Activity: Speedy Solutions

• This activity involves envisioning and planning a local project to address global health challenges. It includes selecting an action project from listed initiatives and specifying the goal for the group's initiative.

This quiz explores essential concepts related to gender equality, maternal health, and their impacts on development and poverty reduction. It highlights the benefits of universal primary education, strategies for combatting diseases, and improving reproductive health. Test your knowledge on these critical global issues!