Author: Communication Unit of the Network of Women Leaders for Development (RFLD)
RFLD is a sub-Saharan African organization with expertise in working with state actors, the media and civil society organizations. We intervene through advocacy, policy development and training, integrating gender and promoting civic space, women’s rights, climate justice and women’s economic rights.
Secretariat email: admin@rflgd.org
In Africa in general, and West Africa in particular, all vital needs are still far from being guaranteed. There are several reasons for this state of affairs: limited access to basic necessities, archaic infrastructures, virtually inaccessible drinking water, unreliable waste and sewage treatment policies, and the list goes on. Speaking of drinking water and women’s access to quality healthcare, this is not a new problem. Statistical data on global health, broken down by sex, explain this observation. Behind every figure in these health statistics lies a community, a person, a family, or a country.
Our task in this development will be to draw on this data to make strategic, evidence-based analyses that will bring more women into a world that is healthier, safer and fairer for them.
Women facing the ordeal of a disadvantaged health status
Of the millions of women in every African country today, only a small number enjoy good general health and well-being. In many countries, they face unequal access to basic medical care throughout their life experience. Girls often receive less attention than boys when it comes to the treatment and prevention of childhood illnesses.From adolescence onwards, and throughout their reproductive years, women do not have access to gynecological and reproductive care services or adequate counseling.As a result, they are increasingly vulnerable to HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted and early pregnancies, unsafe abortions and pregnancy-related complications.
The gap in life expectancy between women and men is smallest when women do not have access to quality healthcare services. In low-income countries, where health care is more scarce, 1 in 41 women dies from maternity-related causes, while in high-income countries only 1 in 3,300 women dies. In almost all low-income countries, there are fewer than 4 nurses or obstetricians per 1,000 inhabitants.
In almost all low-income countries, there are fewer than 4 nurses or obstetricians per 1,000 inhabitants.In this situation, attitudes to healthcare differ.And yet, the right of girls and women to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health was recognized at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.Indeed, at this conference, and as part of the twelve critical areas identified in the program as requiring the attention of the international community, particular emphasis was placed on the urgent need to guarantee all women and girls universal access to appropriate, quality health care and services.Indeed, at this conference, and as part of the twelve critical areas identified in the program as requiring the attention of the international community, particular emphasis was placed on the urgent need to guarantee all women and girls universal access to appropriate, quality health care and services.
Does improving women’s health require fighting stereotypes?
In addition to all the criticisms levelled at modern society, women are not necessarily aware that they can, at times, assess themselves and realize their full potential. But through lack of conviction and self-confidence, they end up accepting certain distorted realities that society has instilled in them over the years as truths or even norms. In essence, stereotypes are ingrained in them, and they no longer perceive them as a threat to their self-fulfillment; rather, they seem natural. Natural, for example, that the best care is aimed at urban rather than rural populations. This is also what makes it so difficult to fight against these caricatural representations that tarnish their image and force them to make do with low-level sexual and reproductive health, leaving them at the mercy of diseases and harmful practices of all kinds, such as genital mutilation and sexual, physical and psychological violence.
Most women’s deaths are preventable. These accidents during childbirth are due to the fact that women do not have equal access to health care and, more specifically, to life-saving obstetric care. That’s why it’s so important to change women’s attitudes towards themselves. Since it has been proven that the same causes always produce the same effects, any attempt to correct this health injustice cannot bear fruit until the thought systems of the victims (in this case, women) are overturned. Consequently, if the relationship between the causes of death in men and women is to change, it must begin with environmental and societal factors, before we can talk about the availability and use of health services, which are also factors to be tackled.
Recommendations:
- To protect, promote and improve the health of girls and women of all ages, a number of specific actions are needed.
- Pay particular attention to the needs of girls by taking specific measures to address gender disparities and inequalities in mortality rates where girls are disadvantaged.
- Ensure that girls are more aware of health and nutrition services.
- Honor regional and international commitments to protect the health needs of girls and women of all ages.
- Multiply work with women’s groups to not only rethink the most gender-sensitive health systems, but also work to ensure that women take ownership of their rights as women and are able to enjoy them. Hence the need to initiate training and information sessions on professional standards, ethical codes and drug supply processes.
