http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091109/women_health_091109/20091109?hub=TopStoriesV2Despite living years longer than men, women's lives aren't necessarily healthier because they often receive such poor health care, the World Health Organization says.
In a report out Monday, the WHO noted that women around the world often suffer from inadequate health care throughout their lives, but particularly in their adolescence and old age.
The report, entitled "Women and Health," says women's health care needs are often not met because men often exercise the political, social and economic control in many societies.
And while women provide the bulk of health care as nurses, nannies and caregivers in the home and the community, more often than not, they go unrecognized and unremunerated in this role, the WHO notes.
"We will not see significant progress as long as women are regarded as second-class citizens in so many parts of the world," said WHO Director General Margaret Chan in a statement at the report's unveiling.
The report cites as an example, childbirth. While birthing services are highly sophisticated in many countries, care can often hinge on a pregnant woman's social standing, the report notes.
"In many countries, sexual and reproductive health services tend to focus exclusively on married women and ignore the needs of unmarried women and adolescents," the report reads.
And while improvements have been made to provide women with safer childbirth, pregnancy-related conditions continue to be major killers of women aged 15 to 45 globally, says the WHO's Dr. Tonya Nyagiro.
"Despite the fact that we've seen improvements in maternal health care, there are still 500,000 women who die from complications from pregnancy and childbirth every year," she told Canada AM Monday.
As young girls, women face unique health issues that are often ignored by health systems, including sexually transmitted disease, high transmission risk for HIV/AIDS, anemia, and depression.
Low-income nations also have minimal screening and treatment services for cervical cancer, the second-most common type of cancer in women and one that has high fatality rates in underdeveloped nations.
Too often, the report contends, women run into roadblocks accessing health care for mental health problems and sexual violence, which many societies prefer to ignore.
As women age, they often find their health problems such as eyesight and hearing loss, arthritis and heart troubles untreated.
"Perhaps one of the greatest challenges faced by the individual woman as she ages and by the society which surrounds her, is the disintegration of the self that occurs with dementia," the report underlined.
The prevalence of dementia appears to double about every five years after the age of 65, the WHO found, when women in many societies enjoy an extended life expectancy compared to men.
Dr. Nyagiro notes that the solutions to the gaps in women's health care lie in major systematic changes.
"Raising the issue of women's health needs to go beyond the health sector. Certainly, health services are part of the solution but so are things like access to education, improving livelihoods for women and things to improve the status of women," she said.
To do that, changes need to be made to inequities in access to education, employment and fair wages, the WHO report said. This is especially crucial in markets where medical insurance is linked to work or where user fees are required to access basic services, it notes.
Chan called for urgent action both within the health sector and beyond to improve the health and lives of girls and women around the world, from birth to older age.
"If women are denied a chance to develop their full human potential, including their potential to lead healthier and at least somewhat happier lives, is society as a whole really healthy? What does this say about the state of social progress in the 21st century?" asked Chan.
Interesting article.. May explain alot.. I am glad that we live in a country where we all have the opportunity for medicine ect... But what about other countries where woman are 2nd or 3rd or 4th class citizens
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Sat 07 Nov 2009, 2:49 pm
