Improvements in women's health worldwide are being held back by inequalities in income and social status, discriminatory delivery systems, and a failure of leaders to tailor health care for women, a World Health Organization report shows.
The report, published in early November, said reproduction and sexuality remain distinctive features of women's health. Complications during pregnancy and birth were considered the leading cause of death among females aged 15–19 in developing countries and HIV/AIDS was named the world's leading cause of death of all women of reproductive age (15–44).
According to the report, women of all ages are harmed by preventable causes of death, such as communicable disease in developing countries, chronic diseases in both developing and developed nations, and disparities in treatment of men and women in health delivery systems. “As the report reveals, the obstacles to good health for women are not principally technical in nature. They are social and political,” Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, said in a press briefing. “While it is tempting to think that poverty is the single most important determinant, this report shows otherwise.”
According to the report:
▸ Lower respiratory infections are the leading killers of girls from birth to age 9 years in the world (17.6% of deaths) and in low-income countries (18.8%), but prematurity and low birthweight are the most common killers in middle-income countries (14.6%) and congenital anomalies in high-income countries (21.7%).
▸ Lower respiratory infections also take the most lives of girls aged 10–19 worldwide (8.9%) and in low-income countries (10.6%), but road traffic accidents are the biggest killers in middle-income (9.9%) and high-income (28.9%) countries.
▸ HIV/AIDS is the biggest killer worldwide of women of child-bearing age (19.2%), and also in low- and middle-income countries (22.3% and 15.4%), while road traffic accidents take the most lives in that age group in high-income countries (10.2%).
▸ Among women aged 20–59, HIV/AIDS still is the leading cause of deaths worldwide (13.3%) and in low- (18.2%) and middle-income (8.9%) countries, but in high-income countries breast cancer (11.5%) is the leading cause.
▸ Among women 60 and older, ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide (19.2%) and in both low- (19.9%) and high-income countries (17.1%), although stroke is the leading cause in middle-income countries (21.7%).
Women often have longer life expectancies than men because of biological and behavioral differences and the reduction of maternal-related deaths in many parts of the world. However, gender-based discrimination overrides the biological advantages of women in other countries. A failure to have tailored treatments for women for conditions that affect both sexes is also a factor in female death rates.
The deficiencies in women's health also have a detrimental effect on health care systems, where women predominantly care for the sick, and on their children, who are harmed if their mothers suffer from such conditions as malnutrition and infectious disease, the report states.