The inability to access quality healthcare and exercise their rights, puts the lives of millions of children, adolescents and women at risk every day. Plan International works with communities, local partners, young people and governments in remote, disadvantaged communities to address institutional/systemic, socio-economic, cultural and gender related barriers to accessing quality health services.
On this page you will find critical research and studies Plan International Canada has done in the field of health that covers topics from engaging fathers through trainings to empowering youth to prevent teenage pregnancy in their community.
Focus area
Strengthening adolescent agency for optimal health outcomes
Janani Vijayaraghavan and colleagues argue that agency and health are intimately connected; achieving best health outcomes for adolescents will require strengthening their agency
Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children's Health (SHOW) - An Interactive Session of Sharing on Plan International's Gender Transformative Project
Lessons Learned in Plan International Canada’s Gender Transformative SHOW project series
The Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) iproject is a gender-transformative initiative aimed at increasing the quality, availability, utilization and accountability of essential Maternal, Newborn and Child Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health (MNCH/SRH) services to reduce maternal and child mortality amongst marginalized and vulnerable women, specifically adolescent girls, and their children in targeted regions across five countries (Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, Nigeria and Senegal).
Compendium of Promising Practice in Gender Transformative Health Programming
Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) was a 4.5-year (January 2016–September 2020) gender-transformative health project,implementedinfivecountries:Nigeria,Haiti, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Senegal. The ultimate objective of SHOW was to contribute to the reduction of maternal and child mortality amongst vulnerable women and children, including adolescent girls, in targeted remote, underserved regions of each country.
Responding to the needs of the Adolescents through gender responsive adolescent health services.
Adolescence is a major time of change in a young person’s life. Starting around the age of 10, the transition between childhood and adulthood is associated with physical and psychological changes1 related to puberty, as well as social interactions and relationships. It is not only the beginning of an individual’s sexual and reproductive life, but it is also a time when gendered roles and expectations related to adulthood intensify.2 As adolescents prepare for adulthood, socially and culturally conventional gender norms are reinforced, and their health needs enter an important stage.
Care Work, Social Norms & Gender Roles: A Qualitative Study Assessing Shifts in Knowledge and Awareness among Women, Adolescent Girls, Men and Boys: Chapeau report
Adolescence is a major time of change in a young person’s life. Starting around the age of 10, the transition between childhood and adulthood is associated with physical and psychological changes1 related to puberty, as well as social interactions and relationships. It is not only the beginning of an individual’s sexual and reproductive life, but it is also a time when gendered roles and expectations related to adulthood intensify.2 As adolescents prepare for adulthood, socially and culturally conventional gender norms are reinforced, and their health needs enter an important stage.
Chapeau report (Download the report | Download French Version)
Bangladesh (Download the report)
Ghana (Download the report)
Nigeria (Download the report )
Senegal (Download the report | Download French Version)
Covid-19: 2021 update
This summary report provides a snapshot of how Plan International Canada has been responding to both the immediate and indirect effects of COVID-19. The impacts of the pandemic are not gender neutral and without targeted and accelerated gender-responsive interventions, COVID-19 has the potential to disrupt decades of progress on gender equality.
Read the report to find out how we are supporting communities to build back better, particularly for women and girls.
SRHR: Program evidence for a gender-transformative approach
With the support of Global Affairs Canada since 2011, Plan International Canada has improved key health outcomes for women and girls around the world.
This report focuses on data from a project called Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) and how it is moving the needle on gender equality while making lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services and information more accessible to women and girls.
Responding to the needs of adolescents
With the support of Global Affairs Canada since 2011, Plan International Canada has improved key health outcomes for women and girls around the world.
This report focuses on data from a project called Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) and how it is moving the needle on gender equality while making lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services and information more accessible to women and girls.
The Power of Public Engagement #ChangetheBirthStory
Report description: Through our #ChangetheBirthStory public engagement campaign, people all around Canada were engaged and inspired to raise awareness about the importance of improving access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls around the world.
In this report you can learn more about how our #ChangetheBirthStory campaign, the impact of our engagement and what we learned through rallying people all around Canada to support and take pride in work that improved access to lifesaving health services while moving the needle on gender equality.
SHOW Midterm Evaluation Report
Report description: With the support of Global Affairs Canada since 2011, Plan International Canada has improved key health outcomes for women and girls around the world.
This report highlights midterm data results from a project called Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) and how it is successfully moving the needle on gender equality while making lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services and information more accessible to women and girls.
Community Health Committees
Community Health Committees (CHCs) are made up of a collective of community members and health providers. Plan International Canada’s focus has been to strengthen these committees, including their make-up and leadership credentials, for a more gender responsive and adolescent friendly structure and process.
Role of Facilitation in Gender-Transformative Programs that engage men and boys
Skilled facilitators are essential to the success of gender-transformative programs. High-quality facilitation helps reach program objectives and initiate transformative change.
Findings in this report are drawn from several years of experience that Promundo and Plan International have in implementing gender-transformative programming.
Engaging Missing Populations in Gender-Transformative Programs
In implementing gender-transformative programs, interventions often focus on direct family members or immediate duty bearers – but this results in some populations going under-served or missing from programming.
Findings in this report are drawn from several years of experience that Promundo and Plan International have in implementing gender-transformative programming.
Recruitment and Retention of Male Participants in Gender-Transformative Programs
This report shares findings on how to effectively recruit and retain male participants in gender-transformative programs and the importance of male engagement as a tactic to improve health outcomes for women and girls.
Results in this report are drawn from several years of experience that Promundo and Plan International have in implementing gender-transformative programming.
Download the reportEnsuring Pregnant Women & Adolescent Girls Reach Higher Levels of Care
Maternal, newborn and child, mortality is one of the greatest public health disparities of our time. A Plan International Canada project called Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Girls (SHOW) spans 5 countries; Ghana, Bangladesh, Senegal, Haiti and Nigeria.
This report highlights how the project is making notable strides in the implementation of gender responsive and adolescent friendly referral services at primary and secondary health care facilities.
State of the World’s Fathers: Unlocking the power of men’s care
This report is produced by Promundo, and is a globally recognized, biennial report and advocacy platform aiming to change power structures, policies, and social norms around care work and to advance gender equality.
The third State of the World’s Fathers report reveals new research on men’s caregiving from 11 countries, with additional cross-country analysis of data from over 30 countries. Plan International Canada was a proud contributor to this report with data from one of our health projects that spans 5 countries.
Download the reportMale engagement resources
Promoting positive masculinities: findings from a qualitative study of Fathers Clubs in reproductive health programming in Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, and Nigeria
Under its multi-country project SHOW (Strengthening Health of Women and Children) Plan International, in collaboration with local implementing partners, established 1,041 Fathers Clubs across countries and engaged 15,105 fathers in twenty reflective sessions to broaden their understanding of gender equality to enable them to question what it means to be a man and a father and to promote their equitable involvement at the household level.
The study findings revealed positive change among Fathers Clubs participants!
Individual country specific reports were also produced from this study:
Bangladesh: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Ghana: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Haiti: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Nigeria: Fathers Clubs Study Finding
Father’s Club Manual
This manual on Engaging Men in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) was developed for the Strengthening Health Outcomes for Women and Children (SHOW) Program by Promundo, with technical guidance from Plan International Canada and support from Global Affairs Canada.
SHOW considers engaging men to be one of the core gender-transformative strategies to positively impact MNCH/SRH outcomes, as well as increase the agency of women and girls overall.
Download the reportEffect of Father’s Clubs on Men’s Care Work at Home
In 2019, Plan International Canada carried out qualitative research extrapolating men’s, partner’s and adolescent children’s, as well as community member’s experiences with Father’s Clubs. The key findings in this report provide a summary of the critical reflections challenging gender norms and also provides an additional evidence-base around men’s equitable care giving.
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