The main purpose of this guide is to provide conceptual and instrumental tools for use by Latin America and Caribbean National Drug Observatories in the design and implementation of studies with a gender perspective, recovering their previous experiences and the methodological strategies implemented.

The guide is divided into five sections and includes a glossary of terminology related to the gender approach. The first section presents conceptual definitions of the gender perspective. The second deals with the importance of incorporating this perspective into drug information systems, emphasising its positive effects on research. The third section briefly compiles the regulations that promote the incorporation of these approaches in the production of data and studies on drugs. The fourth covers some methodological aspects for incorporating the gender perspective in drug information systems, with respect to the conceptualisation of research problems, the definition of the research design, sampling and data collection instruments, data analysis and dissemination of results. Finally, the fifth section proposes possible new lines of research on drugs with a gender approach, suggesting significant problems and possible methodological strategies for each of them.