The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new report: Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda. The report provides the latest and most comprehensive evidence available to date on women's specific health needs and challenges over their life-course, from birth to older age.
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, says the report.
Women provide the bulk of health care, but rarely receive the care they need - Up to 80% of all health care and 90% of care for HIV/AIDS-related illness is provided in the home - almost always by women. Yet more often than not, women go unsupported, unrecognized and unremunerated in this essential role and health care continues to fail to address their specific needs and challenges throughout their lives.
Women live longer than men but these extra years are not always healthy - HIV, pregnancy-related conditions and tuberculosis continue to be major killers of women aged 15 to 45 globally. However, as women age, noncommunicable diseases become major causes of death and disability, particularly after the age of 45 years.
Policy change and action is needed within the health sector and beyond - The report seeks to identify key areas for reform, both within and outside the health sector. These include identifying mechanisms to build strong leadership with the full participation of women's organizations, strengthening health systems to better meet women's needs throughout their lives, leveraging changes in public policy to address how social and economic determinants of health adversely impact women, and building a knowledge base that would allow a better tracking of progress.
You will find the report, executive summaries in six languages and background material here: http://www.who.int/gender/women_health_report/en/
Direct link to the report: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf
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