Even today, in 2023, Doctors of the World teams observe daily how being a woman or a gender minority involves difficulties in exercising one’s rights and limited access to prevention and care.
Overexposed to various forms of stigmatization, women and gender minorities face a range of deeply entrenched obstacles in societies: geographic, economic, socio-cultural, as well as administrative and institutional barriers.
All these obstacles make them more vulnerable to gender-based violence, unintended pregnancies, risks of infections, including HIV/AIDS, as well as cancers, such as cervical cancer – due to lack of access to prevention and care.
Women and gender minorities: the great forgotten in health?
Regardless of the context in which our operations take place, we note that crises particularly affect women and gender minorities. Moreover, public health policies are too often shaped by and for cisgender men, and tend to overlook the health issues of women and gender minorities. This results in health practices that are often inadequate to people’s needs; practices tinged with judgment and sometimes violent. In addition, public policies criminalizing certain activities, such as sex work, and certain healthcare services, such as access to VTP, perpetuate a health order that disadvantages women and gender minorities.
- Over 40% of women live in countries where VTP is not permitted
- 1 in 3 countries criminalizes sexual relations between people of the same sex
- 340,000 people die each year worldwide from cervical cancer, which is preventable through vaccination, screening, and treatment of precancerous lesions
For everyone’s access to health
These observations strongly remind us that universal access to health cannot be achieved without fighting for a more equal and just society between genders at the systemic level. Alongside our partners, we are participating in the international Women Deliver conference – the world’s largest gathering in support of gender equality – to loudly and firmly advocate for our cause.
Doctors of the World, a militant and feminist health organization, calls on decision-makers in Canada and internationally to promote:
- The fight against gender inequalities, discrimination, and violence against women and gender minorities
- Universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights – SRHR, which notably involves the decriminalization of abortion and sex work, and the strengthening of comprehensive sexuality education
- Universal access to sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian contexts, including contraception, comprehensive abortion care, and menstrual health.