Previously, we identified over 50 examples as potential cases of gender integration in government health programs across three regions. Of these, fewer than 20 had substantial government involvement, were active for at least three years and went beyond addressing health needs of a particular gender group to address gender inequalities. Although the initial list of potential case studies spanned a broad range of health-related themes, as inclusion criteria were applied, the breadth of themes was reduced with most programmes clustered around certain health areas, largely sexual and reproductive health and rights or gender-based violence. There was also a large geographical skew with many programmes located in a handful of countries/sub-regions. Summaries of the final shortlisted cases for Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia including an interactive dashboard map.

The compendium serves as a public resource capturing, in a single place, the history of institutional and programmatic gender mainstreaming efforts in health spanning five United Nations agencies, namely UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO.An overview of the history of gender mainstreaming efforts in health within selected agencies to be used for further analyses, to build institutional memory, and provide a deeper understanding of historical and contextual factors that affect and shape gender mainstreaming in organisational settings. Read about each agency’s organisational context, a historical account of its gender strategies and policies, and its current status regarding gender parity, gender architecture, resource allocation and accountability mechanisms.