Engendering Quality, Rights, and Change

We engender quality, rights, and change for people in the world’s poorest communities to realize health and well-being that lasts.

Engendering Quality

EngenderHealth supports health care that is safe and effective and responds to clients’ needs by expanding their choices. Because of our leadership in family planning and reproductive health, many governments look to us for guidance on improving their health care services. We have practical solutions and tools that we adapt to local contexts.

For more than 65 years, our efforts have enabled more than 100 countries to enhance the quality of services they offer and make lasting changes in their health systems. Our approaches help to ensure that health care professionals:

• Are equipped and trained to offer high-quality services
• Listen to their clients and offer care that is responsive to their clients’ needs 
• Treat their clients with privacy and respect
• Observe established medical protocols to minimize the risk of infection
• Communicate and continuously monitor services to identify problems and find solutions

Read about our quality improvement approaches.

Engendering Rights

At the heart of EngenderHealth’s work is a commitment to clients’ needs and rights. Information leads to empowerment, and our approach centers on informed choice. Individuals and couples must have the right to make important decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, such as the timing and spacing of children.

Every individual also has the right to receive safe and high-quality health care. We work together with governments, other organizations, and health care professionals to make these rights a reality, advocating for fair access to health care for all. Our programs ensure that people have all of the information and opportunities they need to make decisions about their health.

EngenderHealth upholds:

• The right of every couple to plan their family and to access safe and effective contraception of their choice
• The right of every woman and man to live without violence and to receive care that responds to their needs
• The right of every woman to deliver her child safely
• The right of people living with HIV to obtain family planning and health care without stigma and discrimination
• The right of young people to have information about and choices in sexual and reproductive health

Engendering Change

Realizing a better life means addressing root causes—poverty, gender inequity, stigma, and discrimination. That’s why EngenderHealth takes a holistic approach to create lasting change.

We effect change at various levels: in individuals, families, communities, and society at large. For example:

• We engage men in tackling negative attitudes and stereotypes, which reduces domestic violence and the spread of HIV.
• We restore the lives of women suffering from fistula by increasing their access to repair surgery and providing counseling and support services.
• We partner with youth to expand their opportunities and life choices for the future.
• We raise awareness of health issues in communities and encourage and enable people to seek out health services.
• We advocate for the latest and soundest medical standards and work with local governments to change policies that impede access to reproductive health care.
• We strengthen local capacity so the communities in which we work can become self-sustaining and self-sufficient.

Thus far, we have reached more than 100 million people in over 100 countries. Learn more about how we are creating change and transforming lives.