Mainstreaming gender in health adaptation to climate change programmes
The WHO has released a guideline for project managers in health-related adaptation to climate change, providing information, tools and recommendations for effective gender mainstreaming, including gender analysis of health vulnerability, adverse health impacts of climate change, and design of gender-responsive adaptation programmes and actions. Drawing on the WHO Gender Mainstreaming Manual for Health Managers, this guideline aims to support the effective mitigation of different adverse health effects of climate change on women and men, by employing scaled adaptation approaches that mainstream gender through directly addressing gender inequality and empowering vulnerable groups as active agents of change. The guideline contains three sections. The first introduces the concept of gender mainstreaming, explains gender, inequality and determinants of health, and provides the rationale for mainstreaming. The second section provides an overview of the relation between gender and vulnerability to health impacts of climate change and adaptive capacity. The third section presents tools and recommendations for programme managers to conduct gender analysis and for integrating gender mainstreaming in all phases of the project cycle.