Good practices on Gender Equality in Social Protection Programming

Health is one of the seven priorities for the Swedish Government and Sida, where sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and health system strengthening (HSS) are priorities. Investments in health are critical to achieving the ustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to fulfilling the global commitments of Agenda 2030. The world’s global health has improved tremendously in the last century, but progress has stagnated and even regressed in recent years. Armed conflicts and climate change are important factors for these setbacks. Inequalities between women and men are linked to many challenges within global health, such as SRHR, but inequities between and within countries are also pushing progress further away from the SDGs. In 2025, Sida disbursed approximately SEK 1.9 billion on health, including SRHR, which represents almost 8.4 per cent of Sida’s total development support. This calculation does not include research around health, nor humanitarian support.

The global humanitarian situation in 2025 was characterised by a growing number of challenges: protracted armed conflicts, increasing violations of international humanitarian law and other legal frameworks intended to protect civilians, and heightened obstacles to humanitarian access. At the same time, natural disasters and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions continued to affect already vulnerable groups severely.

Considering these highly complex circumstances, Swedish humanitarian assistance remained principled, needs‑based, and flexible, delivering clear results. In 2025, Sida disbursed approximately SEK 4.6 billion in humanitarian aid, representing around 19 per cent of Sweden’s total development assistance. Support was directed to some of the most complex and severe crises, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Palestine and Sudan, guided by Sweden’s humanitarian allocation model, funding decisions are based on the severity of humanitarian needs.