Act now: a call to action for gender equality in global health
www.thelancet.com Published online January 20, 2017 http:/dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140 6736(17)30143 5 1 for new appointments across several areas. Although the global health community has already committed itself to gender parity, targets are not being met and progress needs to be quickened. All United Nations (UN) agencies set targets to achieve gender parity by 2017 through the UN System Wide Action Plan (SWAP) WHO is not expected to reach gender parity until 2022. The UN SecretaryGeneral has made clear commitments to gender parity in leadership across the UN system. We believe it is time for the next WHO Director General to fully realise gender equality at the WHO by committing to gender parity, fi lling senior positions accordingly and setting goals for gender parity and reporting regularly on the progress made. We also believe that Member States should support and sign on to the Call to Action for Gender Equality in Global Health on the occasion of the 140th session of the WHO Executive Board. We call on WHO and its Member States to promote: gender equality in leadership positions of WHO; the meaningful engagement of men and women in the technical programmes of WHO; and active monitoring, data generation, and the adoption of evidence based best practices that promote gender parity and equality in health governance across WHO and in Member States. We commit to leading by example by: proposing reforms to the WHO secretariat that will institute specifi c measures to achieve gender parity in their top leadership; ensuring equal representation of both women and men in our delegations to the World Health Assembly and WHO Executive Board meetings and regional governance meetings; and maintaining gender parity in the organisation of all panels and events that we convene during the WHA and other high level international and regional global health events.
The Lancet