A Gender Analysis of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Health System Reform: An Opportune Moment to Build a Just and Inclusive Health System

This thesis examines key institutional and structural interventions and reforms in the health system of the DRC for their implications on health experienced by Congolese women from conception to beyond their reproductive years. This thesis suggests that healthcare reform efforts over the past eleven years have had severe deficits for Congolese women’s health. As the DRC government aims to strengthen its capacities to provide quality healthcare to its population, it is more important than ever to identify how and to what extent intervening variables of the health systems reform efforts are normatively and consequentially reflective of differential gendered experiences of health.