Women's health
[9] Another important perspective is realising that events across the entire life cycle (or life-course), from in utero to aging effect the growth, development and health of women.
[26][27] Women have traditionally been disadvantaged in terms of economic and social status and power, which in turn reduces their access to the necessities of life including health care.
[28] Deeply ingrained cultural, religious, and patriarchal systems within the MENA region perpetuate gender-based power dynamics within communities and lead to discrepancies in healthcare access.
In a speech, UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid outlined these difficulties and emphasized the need to change cultural and societal norms in order to improve the health of women in the area.
[37] Factors that specifically affect the health of women compared to men are most evident in those related to reproduction, but sex differences have been identified from the molecular to the behavioral scale.
[51] Target 5A sought to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters from 1990 to 2015, using two indicators, 5.1 the MMR and 5.2 the proportion of deliveries attended by skilled health personnel (physician, nurse or midwife).
[46] In setting the MDG targets, skilled assisted birth was considered a key strategy, but also an indicator of access to care and closely reflect mortality rates.
[13][58] Research has shown the most effective programmes are those focussing on patient and community education, prenatal care, emergency obstetrics (including access to cesarean sections) and transportation.
[46][62][63] OF results from prolonged obstructed labor without intervention, when continued pressure from the fetus in the birth canal restricts blood supply to the surrounding tissues, with eventual fetal death, necrosis and expulsion.
At the societal level, access to contraception is a key factor in controlling population growth, with resultant impact on the economy, the environment and regional development.
[70] To optimise women's control over pregnancy, it is essential that culturally appropriate contraceptive advice and means are widely, easily, and affordably available to anyone that is sexually active, including adolescents.
"[72] This definition is more suited to the more restrictive concept of family planning, but omits the contraceptive needs of all other women and girls who are or are likely to be sexually active, are at risk of pregnancy and are not married or "in-union".
Abortion is closely allied to contraception in terms of women's control and regulation of their reproduction, and is often subject to similar cultural, religious, legislative and economic constraints.
The main arguments advanced to justify FGC are hygiene, fertility, the preservation of chastity, an important rite of passage, marriageability and enhanced sexual pleasure of male partners.
[97] Legislative efforts to ban FGC have rarely been successful and the preferred approach is education and empowerment and the provision of information about the adverse health effects as well the human rights aspects.
Organizations with campaigns to end child marriage include the United Nations[114] and its agencies, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,[115] UNFPA,[116] UNICEF[106][110] and WHO.
These include the physiological changes that can effect physical and mental health, symptoms of ovulation and the regular shedding of the inner lining of the uterus (endometrium) accompanied by vaginal bleeding (menses or menstruation).
Menstruation can place undue burdens on women in terms of their ability to participate in activities, and access to menstrual aids such as tampons and sanitary pads.
[8] Many aspects of cardiovascular disease vary between women and men, including risk factors, prevalence, physiology, symptoms, response to intervention and outcome.
Customs and cultural practices that involve child and forced marriage, higher rates of parity, polygamy and exposure to STIs from multiple sexual contacts of male partners further increase the chances of cervical cancer.
[145][86] In developed countries, screening for cervical cancer using the Pap test has identified pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, at least in those women with access to health care.
[144] If applied globally, HPV vaccination at 70% coverage could save the lives of 4 million women from cervical cancer, since most cases occur in developing countries.
[157] IDA starts in adolescence, from excess menstrual blood loss, compounded by the increased demand for iron in growth and suboptimal dietary intake.
Perpetrators of personal violence include state actors, strangers, acquaintances, relatives and intimate partners and manifests itself across a spectrum from discrimination, through harassment, sexual assault and rape, and physical harm to murder (femicide).
[175] Changes in the way research ethics was visualised in the wake of the Nuremberg Trials (1946), led to an atmosphere of protectionism of groups deemed to be vulnerable that was often legislated or regulated.
[176][177] Women, at least those in the child-bearing years, and female animals were also deemed unsuitable research subjects due to their fluctuating hormonal levels during the menstrual or other reproductive cycles.
However, research has demonstrated significant biological differences between the sexes in rates of susceptibility, symptoms and response to treatment in many major areas of health, including heart disease and some cancers.
In 1993 the National Institutes of Health Revitalisation Act officially reversed US policy by requiring NIH funded phase III clinical trials to include women.
Under 50% of childbirths in these countries are assisted by healthcare providers (e.g. midwives, nurses, doctors) which accounts for higher rates of maternal death, up to 1:1,000 live births.
[203] A lack of healthcare providers, facilities, and resources such as formularies all contribute to high levels of morbidity amongst women from avoidable conditions such as obstetrical fistulae, sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer.
