WHO Report Highlights Gender Disparities, Cites AIDS as Leading Cause of Women's Deaths

November 11, 2009 — Women around the world are "denied a chance to develop their full human potential" because of a lack of essential health care throughout their lives, according to a World Health Organization report released Monday, Reuters reports. The report is the organization's first attempt to highlight gender disparities in medical care over women's lifetimes.

According to the report, women typically seek medical services more often than men, particularly during childbearing years, but they often fail to receive adequate treatment to cope with violence, depression and problems related to old age. In addition, childbirth assistance can be especially difficult to obtain for unmarried and marginalized women, teenagers and commercial sex workers, the report said. About 99% of the estimated 500,000 childbirth-related deaths annually occur in developing countries where there is a lack of medical supplies and skilled health care workers.

"In many countries, sexual and reproductive health services tend to focus exclusively on married women and ignore the needs of unmarried women and adolescents," the report said, adding, "Paradoxically, health systems are often unresponsive to the needs of women despite the fact that women themselves are major contributors to health, through their roles as primary care givers in the family and also health care providers" (MacInnis, Reuters, 11/9).

The report also found that AIDS is the leading cause of death and disease among women ages 15 through 44 and that unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Other risk factors include lack of access to contraception and iron deficiency. The report said, "Women who do not know how to protect themselves from [sexually transmitted] infections, or who are unable to do so, face increased risks of death or illness," adding, "So do those who cannot protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy or control their fertility because of lack of access to contraception" (Klapper, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/9).

The report emphasized that many health care disparities affect women across income brackets and geographic boundaries. Women are also more likely than men to be affected by depression and anxiety, to contract an STI, be victims of sexual violence, and have untreated health problems associated with old age. The report also said that unequal access to education, employment and equal pay can present difficulties for women, particularly in markets where health insurance is linked to employment or where fees are required to access basic care.

Women "generally live longer than men, but their lives are not necessarily healthy or happy," Margaret Chen, head of WHO, said, adding, "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" (Reuters, 11/9). She added, "We will not see a significant improvement in the health of women until they are no longer recognized as second-class citizens in many parts of the world" (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/9).