WHO stresses need to invest in women's health to accelerate progress

The world marks International Women's Day on March 8 every year to renew our collective commitment to achieving gender equality.

WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, Saima Wazed emphasised that this year, "We are enjoined to 'invest in women,' to accelerate progress."

Highlighting that improving women's health is one of her top priorities, she said, "Investing in the health and wellbeing of women and girls first requires adequate investment in health overall."

However, on this count, our region is lagging, Wazed said in a statement.

"Countries in our Region allocate only about 2.9 per cent of GDP, against 4 per cent globally. This means that out-of-pocket expenditure, as a share of current health spending, is unacceptably high," she said.

Women and girls already perform most of the unpaid work in households, spending two to five times more each day doing such work when compared to men, she said.

"This highly unequal situation holds women back from fully participating in economic and political life," she added.

Wazed further noted that we need to accelerate progress towards gender equality and health for all, adding "We've made some gains, but inequalities persist."

Highlighting the gains, she said, the proportion of women receiving antenatal care from skilled providers, those satisfied with modern methods of family planning, and those receiving skilled attendance for their deliveries.

However, these gains are not equally distributed, she noted.

"Inequities in these gains exist based on women's location, educational levels and household incomes," she said in the statement.

Additionally, another area where improvement is needed is that currently, policies do not fully recognize a woman's autonomy in sexual and reproductive health decisions.

Gender inequalities also affect some risk factors for non-communicable diseases.

"In our Region, women have a higher prevalence of being overweight and obese than men. Often this is because of less physical activity. This is likely because of gender differences that impact mobility, access to recreational facilities, and perceptions of safety related to crime and traffic," she stressed.

Moreover, women in this region, also face barriers in accessing services, such as the lack of a female health provider.

"They also face constraints of a lack of access to household resources and transport, long distances to health facilities and weak decision-making powers," she said.

Noting that violence against women and girls remains unacceptably pervasive, she said that this is nothing less than a violation of their human rights and a priority public health issue.

"In our region, more than one in three women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. We need to increase investment to effectively prevent and respond to this violence and to capacitate the health sector to play its role," she said.

Evidence-informed gender-responsive health policies and programmes can help reduce these gender gaps in health, the statement said.

Most countries in the region have adopted such national plans, however, their capacity to implement them needs strengthening.

"I am pleased to let you know that we are currently designing one of my Priority Programmes, specifically focusing on Women and Children," she announced in the statement.

Focusing on women's health has multigenerational impacts on public health, early childhood development, and even on societal and economic development. This is something the SDG framework also recognizes.

Wazed further said that the health outcomes of the next generation are impacted even before they are born - and so "we must pay a particular focus to the health of pregnant women."

She emphasised that better-informed mothers lead to lifelong benefits for subsequent generations.

"They provide better nutrition for children, encourage active lifestyles, instill cleanliness and hygiene, and other healthy habits," she said.

Their knowledge, understanding and practices regarding their health are taught to not only their own families but to their broader communities as well.

She further said that when she gets the health knowledge, she will teach other women around her.

"On International Women's Day, I proudly reiterate my commitment to support all countries in the Region to increase investment in women's health and well-being, and to accelerate progress towards gender equality," Wazed said in the statement. (ANI)