The Women's Health Contribution Program

Working together to improve the health of women and girls in Canada

The Women's Health Contribution Program

(WHCP) is a partnership of community organizations, leading academic researchers and institutes to support policy research and education on the health needs of women and girls in Canada.

The WHCP program has more than a decade of expertise and experience in producing and communicating policy-relevant research to governments, professional bodies, researchers, community organizations and individuals.

New Questions ~ New Knowledge

The work of WHCP organizations demonstrates how biological factors (sex) and social and cultural roles (gender), interact with environmental, economic and other conditions across the lifespan to influence women's and girls' health.

Health research and education that incorporates sex and gender differences makes for good science and good sense. Understanding the differences between women's and men's health, and within diverse populations of women and girls in Canada, means better health for everyone.

Bringing community, research and policy partners together to improve women's health

Organizations supported by the Women’s Health Contribution Program include:

Canadian Women’s Health Network

Centres of Excellence for Women’s Health

• Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
• British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health
• National Network on Environments and Women’s Health
• Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence

Women's Health Working Groups

• Women and Health Care Reform
• Women and Health Protection

Women's health research

For more than ten years, WHCP partners have produced policy-relevant research papers, syntheses and briefs on the factors that affect the health status of women and girls, including important research that highlights:

• How women's health should be measured.
• Significant differences in the patterns of health and illness in women.
• How women use health services differently than men.
• How care and treatments developed for women improve their health outcomes.
• How economic resources and other determinants affect women's health.
• That women from diverse groups face different health challenges.
• How including w omen and girls from diverse communities and
• rural, remote and northern geographic areas improves health research.
• That women are the majority of paid and unpaid care providers, but more needs to be done to ensure their role in decision making in this area.

Improving our knowledge of women's health and well-being helps governments and policy makers design better policies and programs, deliver more effective services, and involve women in actively addressing the factors that affect their health.

Gender-based analysis in action

WHCP partners investigate women's and girls' health needs, struggles and concerns through gender-based analysis (GBA), an analytic framework to explore sex and gender differences and other forms of diversity between and within populations of women and men, girls and boys.

Applying GBA provides a more comprehensive portrait of the context and complexities of women's and girls' lives, and helps to inform the appropriate responses required to address health inequities where they exist.

WHCP partners participate in:

Comprehensive research

• Qualitative and quantitative research on diverse populations of women and girls.
• Research in areas where women's and girls' health needs are not well understood.

Working for change

• Research applicable to health and health-related services and policy, which provides better evidence to help inform regional, provincial/territorial and federal governments and health service providers in decision making.
• Citizen engagement and community consultation which helps ensure that our health research is reflective of, and relevant to, women's and girls' lived experiences.

Information exchange and education

• Establishing networks for information exchange with researchers, policy makers, community groups, professional organizations, universities, hospitals and health consumers.
• Developing diverse and creative ways to communicate health research, analysis and policy initiatives.
• Building a national clearinghouse of women's health resources available online.

WHCP welcomes new connections with individuals and organizations interested in the effective use of gender and diversity analysis, and in working to improve the health of girls and women in Canada.

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The Women's Health Contribution Program is managed by the Gender and Health Unit, Health Canada. The views herein do not necessarily represent the official policy of Health Canada. Visit the Canadian Womens's Health Network for more great women's health information!