Comparative Study of Gender-Based Health Policies in Indonesia and the Philippines: Strategies and Equity Impact

Introduction: Gender equality remains a central challenge in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 3 and 5, in Southeast Asia. This study compares gender-based health policies in Indonesia and the Philippines, focusing on how policy strategies and implementation affect health equity. Methods: This study employed a qualitative comparative design (Mill's Method of Difference), analysing national policy documents from 2015 to 2025. The study is grounded in Sabatier and Mazmanian’s policy implementation framework and intersectionality theory to provide a comprehensive evaluation of both countries’ approaches. Results: The Philippines demonstrates a relatively explicit rights-based policy architecture, with clearer legal mandates, institutional responsibilities, and documented implementation mechanisms. Indonesia relies more heavily on gender mainstreaming across broader development and health-planning instruments, with implementation responsibilities distributed across existing institutions. The comparison identifies differences in health-worker training, community participation, monitoring arrangements, and access-related patterns. However, population-level health indicators are interpreted as contextual and corroborative evidence rather than as direct measures of policy effectiveness, because the study design cannot establish causal effects. Conclusion: The comparison suggests that gender-responsive health policy implementation is associated with the configuration of legal mandates, institutional capacity, contextual conditions, and equity-oriented community participation. Policy learning from the Philippine case may inform Indonesia, but implementation would require adaptation to Indonesia's decentralised governance and sociocultural context.