The Importance of Women’s Health
By Elizabeth,
Linh, Muj, and Zach (The Survivors)
Some preventive efforts supported
by the World Health Organization (WHO) are currently being implemented in order
to achieve two Millennium Development Goals: Improving Maternal Health and
Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women.
One of the most valuable and important preventive care measures is providing
contraception access and family planning services to all women. Not only is
providing these services imperative to women’s health, but also important is
establishing amongst women, their own autonomy and power to make reproductive
health decisions.
According to the WHO, "globally, over 10% of all women do not have access
to or are not using an effective method of contraception. It is estimated that
satisfying the unmet need for family planning alone could cut the number of
maternal deaths by almost a third. The
UN Secretary-General's Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health aims
to prevent 33 million unwanted pregnancies between 2011 and 2015 and to save
the lives of women who are at risk of dying of complications during pregnancy
and childbirth, including unsafe abortion" (WHO).
The following is a discussion of
issues that are critical components in women’s health and the health of their
families; topics include nutrition, preventive care, contraception and female
education.
The Issue of
Nutrition
Nutrition is a big part of family
life. Mothers have the power of choosing the foods their children eat. As the
child grows, the choices of food eaten will decide health outcomes. Poor diets
will lead to poor health. The human body survives on the nutrients it intakes.
The mother's role in providing the child with nutritious healthy meals will
help in creating healthy eating decisions for the child's future. The child's
mind is like a sponge it intakes what it is taught and holds it in. A woman
that can choose healthy choices also is important to her spouse’s health. Ensuring
a healthy meal and healthy eating habits for her working counterpart could
decrease the chance of illness and loss of ability to work. If the primary
fiscal provider is not working, there will be a loss in income. The woman’s
role is a large role in providing the help needed for the family’s health. With
the amount of technology today both men and women are able to learn about how
to bring forth to the family a healthy meal. The internet is a good tool for
the meal provider to do some research about health and nutrition.
The Issue of Women’s
Health In Relation To Preventive Care
In order for women to have access
to the care that they need, we need to improve female treatment and increase
female value across cultures. As a society, there needs to be a more widespread
recognition of women’s contributions. We must emphasize the importance of
female empowerment, female power and autonomy in reproductive rights decision
making, and emphasize the important role the female has in the global economy
as well as the family structure. Once genuine appreciation is achieved, the
provision of quality healthcare services will be easily accessible to all women
worldwide(Gehner, Chaib & Abraham, 2009).
When a woman is healthy, it is proven that the health of her family improves as well (Gehner, Chaib &Abraham, 2009). Her personal mental and physical health benefits allow for her ability to contribute to the global economy, care for her children, and support her community to improve. What we must focus on in this case is preventive care for women. Not looking at disease once it has happened, but rather what can be done to prevent diseases, especially those in which women are specific targets.
Also essential to improving women’s
health and preventive care is achieving universal healthcare and reproductive
rights and providing widespread access to quality obstetric care. Empowerment
of women, which includes ensuring access to health information and control of
resources such as money, is important for achieving gender equality and health
equity. However, the ratio of female-to-male earned income is well below parity
in all countries for which data are available (Gehner, Chaib & Abraham,2009). Maternal deaths and pregnancy-related conditions cannot be eliminated
without the empowerment of women. Maternal mortality is the number one cause of
death for adolescents 15–19 years old and in many countries, sexual and
reproductive health services tend to focus exclusively on married women and
ignore the needs of adolescents and unmarried women (Gehner, Chaib &Abraham, 2009). This is not effective for the healthcare rights and basic human
rights to reproductive care.
The Issue
of Contraception
Contraception is crucial for women’s
health, their families and the society. However, there are still several
opinions against family planning. Some people think that contraception means
abortion and population control, whereas others don’t want to talk about safe
sex as Melinda Gates (2012) pointed out. The
map of contraception use in the world can be seen here. Looking this map we can recognize that the use of birth control is not the same everywhere in
the world. Some countries in Africa have very low rates of contraception use. For
an example of the detrimental factors of lack of access to contraception, we
turn to the increasing populations in various parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. They
are now growing at rates much faster than their economic growths according to
May (2012).
The Issue
of Female Education
It is well known that education and
income are determinants of health for families around the world. The health of
a mother is a key indicator of how healthy a family is expected to be
(Sebelius, 2012). When
a mother is not able to stay healthy, the consequences can be seen in the
health of the entire family. Education level of
the leading female is essential to the optimal health of a family (United Nations Population Fund, n.d.) Mothers must be able to
provide basic care for children and impart life skills. Health of a
family is directly affected when a mother lacks the knowledge to properly care
for herself and others.
Education also directly affects the income of the mother, another key element to the well-being of a family. A mother requires adequate income to provide resources such as food, transportation, and medical care. If income is too low, a woman cannot properly care for herself or children. Unfortunately women make considerably less money than men for equivalent work. This disparity has consequences that impact the health of all family members. In order to make a change in the health of families globally, women must be educated and compensated equally. Making the household a healthier place starts with empowering the person who makes the difference – mothers.
Sources
Gates, M. (2012,
April). Let's put birth control back on
the agenda [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/melinda_gates_let_s_put_birth_control_back_on_the_agenda.html?WT.mc_id=4_12_2012_TED_fb&WT.tsrc=Facebook).
Gehner , M., Chaib, F., & Abraham, T. (2009). World
health organization: Women. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs334/en/index.html
May, J. (2012, November 10). A wake-up call on contraceptive
rates in Africa. Center for Global Development. Retried from http://www.cgdev.org/blog/wake-call-contraceptive-rates-africa
Sebelius, K.
(2012, May 22). World medical association.
Speech presented in Geneva, Swizerland. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/about/speeches/sp20120522.html
United Nations Population Fund. (n.d). Empowering women through education. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment2.htm
World Health Organization (WHO). MGD 5:
improve maternal health. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/maternal_health/en/
Picture Sources
(2008). Women's
Health [Print Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.edinboro.edu/dotAsset/116121.gif
(2009). Equal
Pay: Female to Male [Print Graphic]. Retrieved from
http://equalpaynegotiations.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/female-to-male-ratio-1960-to-2009-median-income.jpg?w=547
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