In this innovative collection, leading thinkers in clinical medicine, sociology, epidemiology, kinesiology, education, and public policy reveal how health promotion is failing communities by failing women. Despite a longstanding consensus that social inequalities shape global patterns of illness and opportunities for health, mainstream health promotion frameworks continue to ignore gender at relational, household, community, and state levels. Exploring the ways in which gendered norms affect health and social equity for all human beings, Making It Better invites us to rethink conventional approaches to health promotion and to strive for transformative initiatives and policies. Offering practical tools and evidence-based strategies for moving from gender integration to gender transformation, this anthology is required reading for policymakers, health promotion and healthcare practitioners, researchers, community developers, and social service providers.

Lorraine Greaves is the Executive Director of the Health System Strategy Division in the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in Ontario. She was formerly Executive Director of the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (BCCEWH) and the Director, Women's Health Research Development at BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre. She is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. Her research focuses on girls` and women's addictions and substance use with a particular interest in substance use during pregnancy and tobacco use among girls and women. As a founding Co-Leader of the WHRN, she lead the development of the surveillance node and produced a gendered data directory tool which will improve access to data sources for researchers interested in advancing women's health in BC.

Lorraine Greaves' profile page

Ann Pederson is the Director of Population Health Promotion at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre. She worked for over 17 years at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and is currently completing a doctorate at the University of British Columbia in sex, gender, and health promotion.

Ann Pederson's profile page

Nancy Poole is a Research Associate and research network developer with the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health and a doctoral student with the University of South Australia studying virtual knowledge translation on women's health and substance use. She has a CIHR fellowship with the IMPART program, a training program in Gender, Women and Addictions. Nancy is engaged on several research teams undertaking policy relevant research related to women's substance use, and is well known for collaborations on addictions policy, service design and research with governments and organizations across Canada. She is an editor, with Dr. Lorraine Greaves, of Highs and Lows: Current Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario. Nancy recently completed a Master's degree in Distributed Learning at Royal Roads University and is currently pursuing doctoral studies.

Nancy Poole's profile page

“Making It Better breaks new ground in health promotion. It is an essential tool for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working to improve the health of their communities. Amid dire warnings of unsustainable demands and spiraling costs in health service delivery, Making It Better is a welcome voice offering a fresh health promotion approach to improving health outcomes. In addition, it is a timely exposé of product marketing and advertising, which contributes to so many of our modern-day chronic illnesses. It promises pathways to better health for women, girls, and ultimately for all.” — “Kelly Banister, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Women’s Health Network

“This book provides a refreshing and interesting look at health promotion…. It brings together the Canadian and Australian contexts, the determinants of health, and feminist theory and ideology, which makes it unique.” — “Joyce Engel, Associate Professor of Nursing, Brock University