Gender, health, and communication

Communication, health and gender are interconnected with each other, and gender has a profound impact on healthcare policies. Women’s opinions on health and illness are deeplyaffected by their role as primary caretakers, with a strong involvement in disease management, control and prevention. However, gender does also affect women’s access to health information and the ways in which they respond to disease. Therefore considering ‘gender’ as a key factor in health communication programming could make communication more effective, and also help eliminate the gender divide that has been broadened by the Internet and other technologies in many regions of the world.