Women’s health

Equity in healthcare for women, is a desirable goal that has eluded every country in this world till date. Gender discrimination and inequalities in women’s healthcare are very much a reality even today. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to further setback and has impacted women’s health adversely. To sustain global recovery from the health, social and economic impact of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly important to focus on women’s health.

Women’s health needs are varied and can range from nutritional and hormonal insufficiency like anemia and thyroid related issues; reproductive health, maternal mortality, menopause and so on.

While pregnancy and childbirth remain a concern in many regions of the world, women today are bearing the burden of many other health issues too. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol related issues are much more common in women as compared to men. All these factors together lead to an increased risk of cardio-vascular disease (heart disease) in women. Women also have an increased risk of developing stroke. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers like breast cancer and endometrial cancer of the uterus. Obesity can also lead to joint pains and mobility-related issues that tend to affect women much more than men in terms of care provided at home. Additionally, women are more predisposed to developing osteoporosis. In rural areas, women are chronically exposed to “chulha smoke” and that is one of the major causes for respiratory diseases.

Additionally, the Covid pandemic has contributed to an increased incidence of domestic violence against women across the world. Disruption of normal routine, high stress levels, decreased access to supportive networks and services, increased financial difficulties, have led to an increase in crimes against women in both domestic and outside environments. This has also led to a significant increase in depression and anxiety among women globally.

Additionally, societal and cultural factors have a great bearing on women’s overall health and well-being. Some of these factors are:

• Traditionally women play the role of care-takers in the family and are not able to focus enough on their own health.
• Women tend to put others first and may not seek timely healthcare. They tend to ignore their symptoms and delay seeking help, which can hamper the treatment outcomes of any disease. This is especially true for breast cancer and colo-rectal cancer were episodes of bleeding per rectum may be continuously ignored because of hesitation in exposing themselves to the doctors of the opposite gender.
• In the Indian family structure, women are usually viewed as less valuable with less resource allocation to them, thus limiting their ability to access good healthcare.
• Women constitute the majority of the informal and dysregulated work-force which prevents them from getting access to proper health care. Burden of unpaid work is higher amongst women.
• Gender pay-gap is a reality in almost every sector and it leads to decreased financial capability and access to health care for women.
• Increased incidence of sexual harassment and domestic violence during the Covid 19 pandemic has impacted women’s healthcare adversely. Many women also had to leave the workforce during the pandemic.
• There is under-representation of women and a male bias in research studies for drug, vaccine and device development which has a grave impact on their health in the long term.
• Where a woman lives can also be an important factor that can have an impact on health. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa have much less access to good health care as compared to women in the USA or Europe.
• Less availability of female healthcare workers leads to hesitancy amongst women to approach healthcare services.
• Violence against female healthcare workers is a big deterrent to women’s health in the long run.
• There is under-representation of women in STEM fields which has an adverse impact on women’s health.

While women’s education and self-reliance are at the core of improving their lot in every way, governments need to focus on the grassroot level when it comes to healthcare. A collective action is needed to reach the women in rural, semi-urban and urban areas. Increased healthcare budget allocation to women’s health and increased resource allocation must be looked at. Public- private partnerships can be the key here. Healthcare for women must become a priority with focus on comfort, confidentiality, ease of accessing health services and cost competitiveness.

More women must be encouraged to join healthcare as professionals. It will help to decrease the hesitancy amongst women patients to seek timely healthcare. This can prevent a lot of morbidity and mortality in the long term. To empower women in healthcare, Governments must take strong action against incidents of violence against women healthcare workers.

Last but not the least, technology must be used in innovative ways to reach women and increase awareness about their health needs and guide about available healthcare facilities. We live in a hyper-connected world and must use it to our advantage. Today 400 million women in India have a phone in their hands and are connected through the internet. This can be a major breakthrough to reach women at the grassroot levels and increase awareness.

Covid 19 pandemic, conflicts and climate crisis have together set women’s healthcare back by a few years. Even today, health is a luxury that many women do not have. Women’s health in the 21^st century needs a lot more impetus at the cultural, societal and political level. If the world has to progress, it cannot leave 50% of its population behind and equity in healthcare is a goal that every country must aspire for.

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