Mainstreaming Gender in the Health Sector: Prevention of Gender-based Violence and Male Involvement in Reproductive Health

Over the past decade, the prevention of gender-based violence1 and male involvement in reproductive health have come to be viewed as key to advancing the fight against poverty. Research and experience have demonstrated that both issues are crucial to the objectives of gender equality, the reduction of maternal mortality and mitigating the spread of HIV/AIDS, among other important development indicators. In fact, a 1993 World Bank study showed that the global health burden from genderbased violence, domestic violence and rape in particular is comparable to other diseases and risk factors already recognized in the global agenda, including obstructed labor, HIV, maternal sepsis and tuberculosis (See Figure 1).