Objectives:

This paper was prepared to show the the gender gap in the field of health

Abstract:

This paper was prepared for two objectives: the first was to show the reality of Jordan's decline in the Gender gap index in health and survival and its causes according to the Global Gender Gap Reports 2020, 2021-World Economic Forum. The second objective is to show the gender gap in the field of health in Jordan. The analysis that addressed two main indicators of the gender gap standard in the field of health and survival showed two indicators. The first indicator is the sex ratio at birth. Jordan ranked first on this indicator, and it achieved gender parity according to the global report on gender gap. The second indicator is the gender gap in life expectancy at birth. Analysis in this paper indicated that the gender gap is based on this indicator, but there has been no real decline in the values on which the index is based, and that the decline is the result of the use of values by those who wrote and prepared the World Gender Gap Report for values from a new updated series for 2020 prepared by WHO, and therefore comparability with the 2020 report would be impractical.

The second objective of this paper is to show the gender gap in health status. The analysis in this paper addressed the gender gap in life expectancy at birth and the trend in the number of unhealthy years spent by both males and females in Jordan for the period 2000-2019. The analysis showed male-to-female superiority in terms of life expectancy and the higher number of years spent by females in Jordan with complete health loss compared to males in 2000-2019 at an average of 11.63 years for females compared to 8.94 years for males. Analysis also revealed the top 10 causes associated with missing years of life due to disability or death (DALY) among males and females in Jordan, and the top 10 causes of male and female mortality in Jordan for 2019. The overall analysis also revealed that diseases and health conditions that cause most deaths are the same as those responsible for losing the biggest number of healthy years.

Eight of the 10 causes in females and seven of the 10 male causes responsible for losing health years are due to noncommunicable diseases, as well as 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in Jordan in 2019 in noncommunicable diseases (ischemic heart diseases, strokes, heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, kidney diseases, female breast cancer, tracheotomy and congenital malformations). The first seven causes in females led to the equivalent of 82.8% of the 10 causes of death in females; 74.2% of deaths are due to the 10 causes in males.