Experts take a critical look at global health policies and say that the issue of gender should be addressed, particularly norms and behaviors that drive up men’s health risks.

Men, in general, have shorter lifespans than women, yet public policy vastly underrates the importance of gender in health outcomes, according to an analysis of the World Health Organization’s annual report on policy and disease.

Sarah Hawkes, a professor of global health at University College London, and Kent Buse, chief of political affairs for UNAIDS, published an opinion paper in The Lancet discussing gender issues and the top 10 global causes of death .



They found that men worldwide lose more years of their lives to death or disability than women do, especially because of higher rates of heart disease, lower respiratory infections, cerebrovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, and road injuries.

Hawkes and Buse say that global efforts from major health institutions focus primarily on women, despite the fact that men ages 25 to 39 have seen the smallest decline in mortality worldwide.