Closing The Gender Health Gap by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

+Closing The Gender Health Gap

By Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

+Closing The Gender Health Gap -

Speech

n  In 1987, when I was five months pregnant with my youngest child Uchechi, doctors told me they were concerned that his head was not growing fast enough. It was one of the most frightening moments of my life. I couldn’t bear it, the sense of powerlessness in being able to do nothing but wait. It took two long months of fortnightly sonograms before we were finally given the all clear. Although Uchechi was fine in the end, the terrifying experience will remain with us forever.

+ Closing The Gender Health Gap - Speech

n  Today, nearly three decades later, my heart goes out to the hundreds of thousands of pregnant women in Zika-infested countries who are going through the same agonizing experience of not knowing the fate of their unborn child, or even worse those with confirmed cases of microcephaly. As world leaders, policymakers and young people come together in Copenhagen this week to discuss health, rights and well-being of women and girls as part of this year’s Women Deliver global conference, this epidemic is a reminder that a gender gap exists in health as well as education, economics and politics.


n  This gap is not simply due to the different medical needs of men and women. It exists because in poor countries in particular, where the gender gap is often already vast, whenever women’s rights are marginalised or ignored, then usually so too are their health needs. This can have profound consequences and is one reason why pregnant women and their unborn children are often some of the most vulnerable members of society. If we are to close this gap and work towards parity, we need to make protecting women’s health a priority and accept that this will sometimes mean having to go further and do more to redress the balance.


n  Pregnancy is a good example. For many women the very act of bringing life into this world means putting their own life at risk. In poor countries where women’s rights are often denied, we see even the most basic maternal support denied too. As a result, despite huge progress in reducing maternal mortality, 99 per cent of the 289,000 women that still die during child birth every year live in developing countries.


n  The really sad thing is that so many of these deaths could easily be prevented. The solutions are well understood. Simple interventions such as having regular antenatal care during pregnancy and a skilled attendant during birth can make all the difference. With the right political will and investment these basic interventions can and should be made available to all women wherever they live. And it’s not just pregnant women who stand to benefit; improving women’s access to quality antenatal services could also help reduce the 2.7m neonatal deaths that occur every year and the 2.6m stillborns.


n  Another example of where women in developing countries suffer disproportionately is with cervical cancer. The number of deaths caused by this horrific cancer has been steadily increasing to the point that 266,000 women die every year, putting it almost on a par with maternal deaths. Unless something is done to stop it, this figure is expected to rise to 416,000 deaths by 2035. Again, it is the poorest women who are most at risk, with 85 per cent of deaths occurring in developing countries because, unlike in wealthy countries, both screening and treatment are normally beyond their reach.


n  The good news is that we are tackling this, but it has meant having to go further. Since 2013, organisations like Unicef, the World Health Organisation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, of which I am the Board Chair, have worked hard to make human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines available in developing countries, providing girls with protection against the biggest causes of cervical cancer. To make this possible first involved negotiating huge price reductions of the vaccine and working with governments to find innovative ways to reach girls at the optimum age, which falls outside normal infant vaccine schedules. Nevertheless, such efforts have led to a sea change, with 1m girls already vaccinated with Gavi support, and a target of 30m to be reached in 40 countries by 2020.


n  With Zika, a vaccine is likely to be the best solution too, preventing infectious disease in the many to protect the few. We have already seen this with vaccinations against rubella (or German measles), another disease that can have terrible consequences when passed from mothers to unborn infants. But, even though manufacturers are now racing to develop Zika vaccines, development, testing and licensing will take some time.


n  So for pregnant women in affected countries all we can do for now is put in place mosquito prevention measures and do everything in our power to protect them and their unborn infants, while providing support for those families with confirmed cases of microcephaly. In the meantime, we need to turn our attention to wherever preventable health issues are still affecting women. Because wherever this is happening, it is a strong indication that women’s rights are being ignored.

+To Learn More

n  If you would like to learn more about Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, please visit the follow sites:

n  http://ngoziokonjoiweala.net

n  http://ngoziokonjoiweala.org

n  http://ngoziokonjoiweala.info

Healthcare

Closing The Gender Health Gap by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala