United Nations Radio

The World Health Organisation says women are being denied access to health care at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age. In a new report on Women and Health, WHO says although, women provide the bulk of health care services at home and community level, in many countries, the health care system continues to fail to address their specific health needs throughout their lives. Patrick Maigua Reports from Geneva.

women in old age

In a report entitled Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda, WHO says lack of access to education, decision-making positions and income, limit women's ability to protect their own health and that of their families. Launching the reporting in Geneva, WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said the health status of girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world with 42 per cent of women in the region facing the risk of premature death. Dr Chan said HIV AIDS, pregnancy-related conditions and TB are major killers of women aged 15 to 45 globally.

"Women generally live longer than men, but their lives are not necessarily healthy or happy. In high-income countries, chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, dementias and cancers predominate in the 10 leading causes of death, accounting for more than 4 in every 10 female deaths. In low-income countries, maternal and perinatal conditions, lower respiratory tract infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and HIV/AIDS account for nearly four in every 10 female deaths. On the positive side, tools are available to prevent or readily treat all of these conditions. These are social and political problems. They extend beyond the borders of public health and are too big, too tangled up in social and cultural norms to be solved by technical or medical interventions alone, or even by much-needed reforms in health systems. Societies and the political leaders who govern them must first decide that the health of women matters."

Dr Chan is calling for urgent action both within the health sector and beyond to improve the health and lives of girls and women. She says strategies adopted to improve women's health must take account of gender inequality and address the specific socio-economic and cultural barriers that prevent women from protecting and improving their health. Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva.

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