In the battle for gender parity, a lot of ground has been won over the years; however, much still remains to be done before women are given the recognition and empowerment they deserve.

As we approach the anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voting to create a single body, tasked with accelerating progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment; this blog reflects on women’s health and its global importance.

Although it has far-reaching implications for us all; this is one theme which is generally only debated among the female population.
So now we are on a mission to tackle the taboos and get the important conversations started.

A vision for health equality

Imagine a world where women’s health is not just a fundamental right, but also a driver of economic growth.

A world where investing in women’s health would result in not only longer, healthier lives, but a more robust GDP and greater prosperity in the future for everyone.

Well, believe it or not, this utopia is not some distant intangible dream.

At least it doesn’t have to be.

A groundbreaking study by the World Bank and the Global Health Workforce Alliance recently revealed how much of an astronomical economic opportunity investing in women’s health might be; valued at no less than $1 trillion per year, should we choose to take it.

That is why we need to view their resulting report, ‘Improving Women’s Health: A $1 Trillion Opportunity’, as an irresistible invitation to rethink the crucial role of women’s health in global development.

Investing in equality, empowerment and more engaged women

When women are healthy, they are more productive at work, are more engaged, and can make a significant contribution to the economy.

Fact: diseases and chronic conditions lead to high levels of absenteeism and loss of productivity.

By investing in women’s health, we can reduce these problems and ensure that unique skill sets and talented individuals remain in the workforce.

Now, think about the women’s role as primary caregivers for their families.

Of course, it would be so easy to get bogged down in a discussion about the fairness of this status quo but that is a debate for another day.

Let’s concentrate on the facts as they are.

It follows that when women are healthy, they can better care for their children, parents, and other family members.

Take maternal health for example and its fundamental importance to our children’s health. By ensuring that women have access to quality prenatal, childbirth, and postpartum care, we can reduce both maternal and infant mortality.

Finally, investing in women’s health also strengthens both local and national communities

We are talking about promoting social and economic development through women’s empowerment.

Giving women access to health care that they need to be able to study, work, and participate in political and social life, and that inevitably leads to fairer and more prosperous societies for everyone.

The persisting health gap

The report I spoke of previously, found that, on average, women experience poor health for 25% longer than men, and that this could be reduced by almost two-thirds if the persisting health gap were closed.

According to several studies it cites, women are diagnosed later than men for a range of diseases.

One primary cause for this is thought to be a tendency to simplify women’s health; excluding almost everything other than sexual and reproductive health.

Data on women’s health is also often sketchy, inaccurate, or absent altogether.

A taster of things to come

The second blog in this series on women’s health delves deeper into what we can do as individuals, communities and governments to redress the balance of health inequality.

We hope you will join us, as we explore this most important issue, but in the meantime, reflect on this:

Investing in women’s health is an investment in the future.

It is an investment that will bring benefits to women, their families, their communities, and the world as a whole.