Closing data gaps in gender
Collecting, analyzing, and using good quality, disaggregated data is necessary to improve people’s health and well-being. In 2019, WHO’s Global Health Statistics were disaggregated by sex for the first time. When data on individuals are broken down by sex, health systems are better able to identify and respond to gender inequalities in health, and allocate resources accordingly. Such data can also show how gender interacts with other drivers of inequalities such as age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, poverty level or geographic location to influence health outcomes.
When data on individuals is broken down by sex, health systems can:
- Identify gender inequities in health
- Conduct an intersectional gender analysis to see how gender inequality and restrictive gender norms intersect with other factors to shape men’s, women’s and gender diverse people’s health
- Respond to gender and other inequities by designing gender-responsive and –transformative policies
- Allocate appropriate resources and build capacity to implement equitable health systems
While closing data gaps is necessary, many countries still struggle to provide information disaggregated by sex. Health policy and practice that leads to universal health coverage must be underpinned by robust and reliable data in order to identify where inequities lie and to understand the underlying causes of differential health outcomes, identify what drives people to seek health care, what barriers they face, and see how the system responds.
