KMU-AKU Join Hands For Integration Of Sex, Gender Education In MBBS Curriculum

In a significant step towards advancing equitable and evidence-based healthcare education in Pakistan, Khyber Medical University, in collaboration with Aga Khan University, has entered into the 3 pilot phase of a project aimed at integrating sex and gender perspectives into undergraduate medical education. The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was initiated in January 2025 to address longstanding gaps in medical education where biological sex differences and gender related social determinants of health are often overlooked. Global evidence increasingly demonstrates that sex and gender influence disease risk, symptom presentation, diagnosis, treatment response and access to healthcare across specialties including cardiology, orthopaedics, surgery, immunology, mental health, and public health. Despite growing international momentum, these perspectives remain insufficiently integrated within medical curricula across many low- and middle-income countries, including Pakistan.