Health policies fall short on gender equality

The gender health gap needs urgently addressing, according to UCL academics and leading health care professionals. On Monday, UCL's Centre for Global Health and Gender, Promundo and Global Action on Men's Health will bring together academics, UCL's Slade School of art, the UCL Institute of Education and panellists from organisations including Oxfam, Prostate Cancer UK, The Government Equalities Office and the World Health Organization to discuss how health outcomes can be improved for all genders ahead of a keynote lecture from artist, Grayson Perry. In the UK, women can expect to live three years longer than men. In some countries, this gap is as large as 11 years. On the other hand, women can expect to live longer but with more chronic disease and the role of gender in driving these gaps remains overlooked say academics. Professor Sarah Hawkes (UCL Institute for Global Health) says: "When we talk of gender, for most of us it will be women that come to mind. In global health, discussions on the impact of gender on health tend to remain narrowly focused on women's health.