HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY IN HEALTH SECTOR STRATEGIES:HOW TO ASSESS POLICY COHERENCE

Human Rights and Gender Equality in Health Sector Strategies: how to assess policy coherence is designed to support countries as they design and implement national health sector strategies in compliance with obligations and commitments. The tool focuses on practical options and poses critical questions for policy-makers to identify gaps and opportunities in the review or reform of health sector strategies as well as other sectoral initiatives. It is expected that using this tool will generate a national multi-stakeholder process and a cross-disciplinary dialogue to address human rights and gender equality in health sector activities.

The tool is intended for use by various actors involved in health planning and policy making, implementation or monitoring of health sector strategies. These include (but are not limited to) ministries of health and other sectors, national human rights institutions, development partners and civil society organizations. The tool provides support, as opposed to a set of detailed guidelines, to assess health sector strategies. It is not a manual on human rights or gender equality, but it does provide users with references to other publications and materials of a more conceptual and normative nature. The tool aims to operationalize a human rights-based approach and gender mainstreaming through their practical application in policy assessments.

The tool, adaptable to different country contexts, is composed of three parts:

A. Conceptual approaches of the tool
B. Practical guidance on how to use the tool
C. Analysis tables

The analysis tables in Part C constitute the backbone of the tool and are designed to guide the user through three separate assessment levels: 1) State obligations and commitments, 2) national legal, policy and institutional frameworks, and 3) health sector strategies, using the various components/building blocks of a health system.

 

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