Across the world, the movement for gender equality has long been in the making. From Cairo to Beijing, Maputo, Montevideo to New York, commitments have been made, commissions launched, and initiatives inaugurated. But the pace of real change is lagging, both within global health organisations, and for the people who are served by their programmes.

The lack of understanding of the complexities of gender and the extent to which gender inequality is embedded in our institutions can already be seen in who leads global health organisations, how they programme and what they fund.

Major gaps and challenges remain in achieving gender equality. These gaps can be seen in representation, in gender-responsive budgeting and in mainstreaming gender through the policies, programmes and structural responses of global health institutions. Such gaps and challenges are problematic in their own right and continue to inhibit progress across the global health agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals on health, gender, equality and inclusive institutions (SDGs 3, 5, 10 and 16).

Global Health 50/50 is an independent initiative to advance action and accountability for gender equality in global health and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  It has three tracks: