vdek awards prizes for gender-sensitive healthcare projects

The Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds (vdek) has awarded the 2026 Zukunftspreis, a prize totaling 25,000 euros, to projects promoting gender-sensitive healthcare. The awards were presented in Berlin under the theme ‘Health for All Genders.’

München Klinik received the first prize of 12,000 euros for its training program, ‘Culture, Sex & Gender in Emergency Medicine.’ The program aims to teach emergency medical professionals how gender and cultural backgrounds influence patient care, helping staff recognize and question personal biases to ensure equitable treatment.

Charité Berlin was awarded the second prize of 8,000 euros for its project on gender-sensitive smoking cessation. The initiative focuses on the different motivations for smoking between genders, noting that while smoking in men often has a social component, women frequently use it as a way to manage stress. The project seeks to provide more tailored and effective support based on these distinctions.