Report on survey on women's health

Abstract

In a recent event (3 March 1999) held at the United Nations, the director general of the World Health Organisation, addressed key women during a seminar on the issue of Health/or All Women in the 21st Century (Flowers, M.K, 1999). In her speech, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland remarked that the 20th century has been a century of remarkable progress for the rights of women, namely, progress in political rights, progress in the right to take responsibility for their own lives and progress in the right to lead a healthy life. However this progress is not even globally or nationally in any region of the world. Unfortunately women are more vulnerable to ill-health since too many do not control their own lives, do not have the means of empowerment and decision making in their lives and in those of their children. Globally this is resulting in more than a third of all women suffering nutritional anaemia. Malnutrition has a cumulative effect during an individual's lifetime with adverse effects on the health of the next generation. World Health Organisation has clearly stated that investing in women's health leads directly to women making personal choices they could not otherwise make and it helps them to be more effective, whatever the roles they choose to play, whatever the tasks they undertake. The trends today create health gaps between the rich and poor which are widening and creating severe health risks for women and similarly for their children. National economic growth is not a guarantee for better health or higher status for women, as long as the benefits are not equally distributed.