GLOBAL HEALTH. What is the role of health and gender equality in contributing to peaceful, just, and inclusive societies? In partnership with The Lancet, SIGHT (Swedish Institute of Global Health Transformation) at The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is hosting an independent and international Commission on peaceful societies through health and gender equality.
Countries are working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global commitment to create peace and prosperity for the people and the planet, but conflict and instability pose serious threats to progress including SDG3 on health and SDG5 on gender equality.
The Lancet-SIGHT Commission, chaired by Tarja Halonen, the former and first female President of Finland, aims to identify how health and gender equality can help contribute to more peaceful societies.
“War has always been a threat to human health,” says Tarja Halonen. “But health has also become an increasingly clear indicator of social status. That is why I think The Lancet-SIGHT Commission’s ambition to tackle the question of how health, equality, and peaceful communities are interconnected comes at the right time.”
Peter Friberg, Co-Chair and Director of SIGHT explain:
“Our hypotheses are that health and gender equality can be a powerful lever to realize peaceful societies, but we don’t have enough evidence to understand how these complex factors interact, and what we can do about that to prevent conflict and support peace.”
To address this gap, The Lancet-SIGHT Commission will generate new evidence on the interlinkages between health, gender equality, and peaceful societies and identify actionable recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and civil society. The Commission is composed of an international and interdisciplinary group of experts, including Co-Chairs Zulfiqar Bhutta, a world-renowned expert in maternal, newborn and child health, and Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center.
The Commission will publish a report with its findings and recommendations in late 2021.
Read Comment in The Lancet
More info on sight.nu/peacehealthgenderequality
