The Feminist Health Systems Charter
The Feminist Health Systems Charter is an advocacy tool for advancing feminist health systems grounded in human rights, gender justice, and public accountability. It translates States’ existing human rights obligations into clear principles for how health systems should be designed, governed, financed, delivered, and held accountable.
It sets out what it means for States to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health — including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) — in ways that are feminist, rights-based, people-centered, and accountable to the communities they serve.
The Charter is intended for governments, multilateral institutions, researchers, civil society, health workers, feminist movements, and advocates. It can be used to guide reform, shape policy and research, strengthen advocacy, and hold States accountable for building health systems that are equitable, inclusive, accessible, and transformative.
The Charter was developed through the Building Feminist Health Systems project, coordinated by Women Deliver, the PUSH Campaign hosted by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and Health Systems Global’s Thematic Working Group on Gender and Health Systems. It focuses on the global health dimensions of the Melbourne Declaration.