United Nations Radio

women live longer, but not healthier

PRES: According to a new report released by the World Health Organization, despite considerable progress in the past decades, societies continue to fail to meet the health care needs of women at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age. The report, entitled Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda calls on the health care sector and beyond to help address the problem.

 
Narr: In its first report on the health of women and girls, the World Health Organization (WHO) finds there is a direct link between the social status of women and poor health. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan says women face many challenges.

"The obstacles that stand in the way of better health for women are not primarily technical or medical in nature they are social and political and the two go together. To be frank, we will not see significant progress in the health of women as long as they are regarded as second class citizens in so many parts of the world."

Narr: Dr Tonya Ngayo, Director of WHO's Department of Gender, Women and Health says the report points to major levels of inequity for women between rich and poor countries. She says women have been denied adequate health care needs at key moments of their lives.

"Really what we see that comes out of this are really two key age groups that are really neglected. One is the teenager. This report highlights that in addition to the leading cause of death which is maternal conditions - and this has to do with unsafe sex, unsafe abortions and the outcomes of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases - teenage girls in this case in particular, they're more at risk for unwanted and forced sexual intercourse, for violence, for sexual abuse. And we know that services by and large tend to focus on and be available for married women so this is a huge segment of the population that is overlooked."

Narr: Dr. Ngayo says older women, many who have devoted much of their lives providing health care, are often neglected. She says even though women live longer than men their lives are not necessarily happier or healthier.

"They live longer but they're taking greater toll of key issues such as health, such as heart disease and stroke. And we know that because women throughout the course of their lives are often in the informal sector, meaning that they have less economic power or they're often in unpaid positions that the older they get they often can't afford access to health care."

The WHO Director-General says public health can provide better access to care and services, early screening for things like breast and cervical cancer and can help cut back on risk factors for things like heart attack and stroke. But she says health can only do so much. WHO has 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.

Producer: Gail Walker
Duration: 2'51"