Gender, Poverty & Global Health

3 units

This course comes in the wake of the new sustainable development agenda to end poverty by 2030, which includes a stand-alone goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It explores the interconnections between gender, health, and extreme poverty within low- and middle-income countries. Specifically, students will examine a broad range of data and programmatic evidence related to how gender norms and inequalities influence health and development outcomes in and across various global health sectors, including: maternal and child health; nutrition; family planning; water, sanitation and hygiene; and agriculture. Further, by reviewing government policies, donor mandates and gender-based interventions, students will learn how to identify and explain health-related gender gaps, as well as how to address gender norms and power relations in program/policy planning, implementation, and evaluation. At the end of the course, students will use in-depth case studies to propose programmatic and policy driven action to overcome current gender-related obstacles and advance global health and development.