Gender sensitive health promotion and prevention

Numerous gender differences in health-related behaviour are relevant in the planning of health promotion and prevention. More men than women consume amounts of alcohol that are a risk to their health. Tobacco consumption has fallen slightly among men but has risen among women. Women eat more healthy food. Man behave risky in leisure time and traffic, thus their mortality rates due to accidents are much higher, especially in young age groups. The epidemiological data lead to the conclusion that gender sensitive health promotion and prevention is necessary. Gender mainstreaming is declared as the main strategy to enhance gender equity in health. The paper focuses on the public health action cycle and demonstrates that at each step gender mainstreaming improves the quality of intervention. To implement gender mainstreaming in health promotion and prevention, a process of sensitization has to be initialized. An instrument is presented that supports this process at the foundation "Health Promotion Switzerland". A short description of some examples of gender adequate interventions is given at the end of the paper.