Baltimore, Md. (July 11, 2024) – Jhpiego has once again been recognized as a “Very High Performer” and a “Consistently Strong Performer” by Global Health 50/50 (GH5050) for its continued efforts to prioritize gender equality—both within the organization and in the global health sector broadly. Last year, Jhpiego was recognized as a “Very High Performer” for the first time by GH5050, an independent research initiative at the University College London Centre for Gender and Global Health. Between 2020 to 2022, Jhpiego was recognized as a “high performer.”
The Global Health 50/50 Report reviews publicly available, gender-related policies and practices of organizations and for-profit entities active in the global health sphere. The 2024 report recognized Jhpiego as one of 49 organizations that have continuously performed well across GH5050’s variables, which include having transparent policies and measures in place to advance gender equality and at or near gender parity in their decision-making bodies.
“Throughout our work in nearly 50 countries, gender equality is a driving principle,” says Jhpiego President and CEO Leslie Mancuso, PhD, RN, FAAN. “We advocate for it in health worker education, the workplace, and centers of power across all communities. We also aim to ensure that health services support the agency, needs and rights of all genders. Our experience has been that when people of all genders receive the same opportunities, everyone benefits.”
This year, GH5050’s review focused on two main areas of focus: gender-related policies and practices across 201 global health organizations and the geographic and gender inequalities among 147 of those organizations’ governing boards.
“Global Health 50/50 is pleased to recognize Jhpiego as a Very High Performer in our 2024 Report, Gaining Ground?,” say Professors Sarah Hawkes and Kent Buse, Co-CEOs of Global Health 50/50. “We hope that Jhpiego’s efforts to advance equality and diversity inspire others. We look to them to continue to push this hard-won progress forward for the people working in global health and around the world.”
For the first time, the 2024 Report finds gender parity among board chairs and board members of nonprofit organizations in the sample, with 45% women board chairs and 45% women board members. Since 2018, GH5050 has seen progress in nonprofit commitments to gender equality, which have grown from 68% to 91%. But for-profit global health companies still struggle to reach these same benchmarks, as only 16% of board chairs in this category are women in 2024. Additionally, challenges persist in geographic diversity of nonprofit board seats and CEO salaries, in which people from high-income countries and men dominate.
As part of our work in 45 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, Jhpiego promotes gender equity for women health care providers and guides health ministries in developing policies and programs that increase gender parity in the health workforce. We work with partners to reduce systemic and gender-related barriers, so health workers can lead at all levels of the health care system. We also champion gender parity on our Advisory Board, which has 18 female members (comprising 72% of the board) and a new policy “promoting respect equity, access and participation in its recruitment and internal and external relations efforts.”
For more information on Jhpiego’s gender and equity work, click here.
The GH5050 report launched on July 11, 2024. Read the full report here.
For more information on Jhpiego’s work, contact Ann LoLordo, ann.lolordo@jhpiego.org.