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Gender and Health Equity Network Dissemination Meeting
China and India GHEN experiences: implications for China health reform, and international research and policy agendas
The China Health Development Forum, China Health Economics Institute and the Gender and Health Equity Network (GHEN) organized an international dissemination meeting in Beijing in collaboration with the Foreign Loan Office of the Ministry of Health on 13th-14th November 2008. It reported on GHEN projects in China and India that are working to improve women’s health and gender equity in access to health care in poor rural areas. The meeting was attended by high level officials from the Chinese Government, international agencies, representatives from the participating counties in Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces, and researchers from Chinese, Indian and international research institutions. The meeting focused on implications for the health sector reform process and for international research and policy on gender and health equity. Governments are increasingly concerned about gender based inequalities in health outcomes and access to care and how to tackle them.
Participants heard from the GHE projects in Luoping, Zhenning and Darfang counties where the project team has worked with local officials, village doctors and communities to develop innovative health promotion initiatives in women’s reproductive health. Important outcomes were that women became much more empowered to seek reproductive health care and providers have learned how to create better relationships of trust with communities. As a result, more resources have been provided to support good quality preventive services. Participants noted that this is a good model for policy makers to consider for wider dissemination in rural China.
The meeting also heard from India GHEN researchers about their efforts to improve maternal health in poor rural India. Participants shared views on what India and China can learn from each other.
Noting the great opportunity provided by the health sector reforms in China and the sincere commitment of the Government to improve gender and health equity, participants proposed a number of important measures that could be integrated into the reforms. These included the importance of collecting information on different health risks and vulnerabilities experienced by women and men; much greater attention to preventive health services, particularly for sexual and reproductive health, and measures to increase the accountability and responsiveness of the health system to its users. Participants noted that this will need training for local officials on why gender matters for health and on how to undertake gender disaggregated reporting and analysis.
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