The Lancet Commission on peaceful societies through health equity and gender equality

The world is experiencing a polycrisis—ie, an interaction of multiple crises that dramatically intensifies suffering, harm, and turmoil, and overwhelms societies’ ability to develop effective policy responses.

Valerie Percival, DrPH; Oskar T Thoms, PhD; Ben Oppenheim, PhD; et al.

Bold approaches are needed to enable communities and countries to transition out of harmful cycles of inequity and violence into beneficial cycles of equity and peace. The Lancet Commission on peaceful societies through health equity and gender equality provides such an approach. The Commission, which had its inaugural meeting in May, 2019, examines the interlinkages between Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) on health; SDG5 on gender equality; and SDG16 on peace, justice, and strong institutions. Our research suggests that improvements to health equity and gender equality are transformative, placing societies on pathways towards peace and wellbeing.