women's health
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women health |
Being a woman not only affects our economy, the positions we can access or our family responsibilities, it also has a significant impact on our health. As a result of both biological and gender-related differences, the health of women and girls is a priority concern of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Women and men face many similar health problems, but some differences are of such magnitude that the health of the former is more affected. There are situations that are exclusively feminine and only women experience its negative repercussions (such as pregnancy and childbirth) and there are other problems that affect both men and women but have a greater or different effect on us (such as HIV) that require responses specifically tailored to our needs. Gender inequalities in education, income and employment limit access to health care.
Although we women tend to live longer (73.8 years for women and 69.1 years for men approximately), that does not ensure that we have a good quality of life. Furthermore, in most regions of the world, especially in developing countries, we are disadvantaged by gender discrimination based on socio-cultural factors. Although some progress has been made in recent decades in terms of health care for women (global maternal mortality has fallen by almost 44% since 1990), inequality continues to impact health care: in 2015, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) - the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births - was estimated at 216 worldwide (over 40% of births in Africa and Southeast Asia were not attended by trained health personnel). In Argentina, it is 52 women for every 100,000 live births. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings and could have been prevented.
The problems in access to sexual and reproductive health are the deepest: 44 for every 1,000 women between 15 and 19 years old have had at least one pregnancy. This number is five times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries (in 2014 more than 700 million women were married before the age of 18; of these, about 250 million before the age of 15 ).
Although progress has been made in the Region of the Americas and throughout the world in relation to women's health, that transition has been slow and complex. The lack of disaggregated health data continues to hide disparities in areas such as deaths from abortion (especially in countries where the practice is not legal), cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and traffic accidents.
Women have higher health expenses than men
Women consume more health services than men. However, this does not necessarily constitute a privilege. It has to do with different types of care needs, differences regarding the recognition of symptoms, perception of
disease and care-seeking behavior (the exercise of the role of “caregivers” of health make us learn to detect symptoms of the disease and know how to handle ourselves better than men in relation to formal or informal processes of health care).
Women have a greater need to use health services since reproductive functions generate a set of particular care needs (from contraception to pregnancy, through childbirth and the puerperium and reaching menopause). In addition, compared to men, we have higher rates of morbidity and disability throughout life and, since our life expectancy is also higher, we are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases associated with age.
As can be clearly seen, health is not a private but a public matter, it is a central aspect for the development of a country. The health status of the population of a country or region does not depend exclusively on the disease prevention and care model or on opportunities to access medical services. There are other factors that have a great impact on the health status of the population, such as gender status, access to education, decent employment opportunities and income distribution. Because of our higher level of need, as a social group, we consume more services and we must pay more than men to maintain our health. This inequality is deepened when considering the lower economic capacity that, also as a group, we have compared to men.
The economy directly influences the quality of health care. Despite the global progress made in girls' education in recent decades, there is still a great difference between the sexes in terms of higher education, access to employment and equal pay. Globally, women are less protected in the workplace and enjoy fewer benefits than men. Furthermore, to a greater extent than they, working conditions are more precarious and put our health and safety at risk. Because of these inequalities (being poorer, suffering more unemployment, accessing only part-time jobs or in the informal sector) we do not have the same level of access to health benefits. That is why eliminating the wage gap is a key factor in improving the health of all women in the world.
In the Americas region, the participation of women in the labor market is 53% in urban areas, compared to 77% in the case of men. In addition, 79% of women with jobs work in low-productivity or informal sectors, where access to social protection is low or non-existent. In addition, women carry out between 71% and 86% of the total Unpaid work, which limits our opportunities to be part of the formal sector of the economy and to have better salaries, with benefits such as retirement and health insurance. The number of employed women is less than that of men, but we work longer hours and receive less pay.
However, it is paradoxical that the same health systems that frequently neglect our needs are largely sustained thanks to the fact that women fulfill the role of primary caregivers of our families (without receiving support, recognition or remuneration) and as health care providers in both the informal and formal sectors. And while we are the backbone of the healthcare system, we seldom occupy decision-making positions: of the eight people who have held the leadership position of the World Health Organization, only two have been women (Gro Harlem Brundtland from 1998 to 2003 and the current CEO, Margaret Chan). At the regional level, the panorama is replicated: only the last two directors of the Pan American Health Organization are women (Mirta Roses Periago and the current director Carissa F. Etienne).
Although the health problems that women face show common features throughout the world, certain variations can be observed according to different living conditions. Life expectancy is higher in high-income countries and morbidity and mortality are lower than in low-income countries (in addition, most deaths in the first countries are from women over 60 years of age, while in the poorest countries, most of the deaths of women correspond to adolescents and young adults).
The need for gender equity in health
The consideration of gender factors is absolutely relevant in the analysis of equality in access to health services. Gender equity in health does not translate into symmetrical mortality and morbidity rates in women and men but rather aims at eliminating inequality in opportunities for access to health and preventing diseases, disabilities or deaths of women from preventable causes.
It is not enough to offer equal resources and services for men and women: we must demand that attention be paid to our particular needs as women and according to each socioeconomic context. From a gender perspective, the focus of the analysis of health care should be on the impact of the gender division of labor and access to jobs and quality of life that enable the payment of health services or participation in insurance public or private health.
If you want to improve women's health in women around the world, it is important to identify gender inequalities in access to and financing of health services, not to lose sight of the relationship between these inequalities and other socioeconomic factors, and to evaluate examine the relationship between these inequalities and the different modalities of health care.