On 19 May 2026, the International Gender Champions, in partnership with the Small Arms Survey and the Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence, convened an expert roundtable on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly under the theme "Closing the Gap: Strengthening the Global Health Response to Firearm Violence and its Gendered Impacts". Bringing together representatives from Member States, international organisations, civil society and medical professionals, the discussion highlighted the significant toll that firearm violence takes on individuals, communities and health systems worldwide, as well as its distinct gendered impacts.
Expert speakers included:
- Ximena Sotres Brito, Second Secretary, ATT and Humanitarian Affairs, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva
- Stephen Hargarten, Founding Co-Director of the Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Founding Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center at Medical College of Wisconsin.
- Hine-Wai Loose, Director, Control Arms
Participants explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration across health, gender and disarmament communities, improve data collection and evidence-sharing, and elevate attention to firearm violence within existing global health frameworks.
Firearm violence is a leading and preventable cause of death, injury, and trauma globally, with significant impacts on health systems, mental wellbeing, and social stability. While men and boys are disproportionately affected in public settings, women face heightened risks in domestic contexts, including intimate partner violence and femicide. The presence of firearms both constrains women’s participation in public life and increases the severity and lethality of violence in the home, heightening fear and risk in spaces that should be safe.
Yet, firearm violence remains largely absent from the global public health agenda. The World Health Organization has not addressed it as a distinct priority, and key UN frameworks on violence prevention often overlook firearms as a major driver of lethality. This gap limits both effective prevention and the availability of comparable global health data. Global and regional instruments such as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) depend on reliable, standardised data to assess risk, monitor trends, and evaluate the impact of policy interventions. The current gap limits the ability of these mechanisms and the agencies that support them to fully understand and respond to the human consequences of firearm proliferation. The consequences are practical and measurable. National strategies often prioritise prevention, protection, and response mechanisms without incorporating measures related to firearm access, storage, or removal in high-risk situations. Health systems are rarely guided to identify firearm access as a risk factor in cases of intimate partner violence, suicide, or child protection. As a result, opportunities to prevent lethal outcomes are routinely missed.
The roundtable underscored the importance of sustained cross-sectoral engagement and Member State leadership to advance more comprehensive and effective responses to firearm violence and its gendered dimensions.
To learn more and get involved, please visit the website of the Global Coalition on for WHO Action on Firearm Violence.