Women & Global Health

When we discuss aspects of global health and define the problems that exist, we must always remember that each and every barrier to health that exist is that much higher for women. HIV, malnutrition, endemic tropical diseases. Women not only suffer from these diseases right alongside the men, but they also face the complications of repeated pregnancies which further increase their mortality rate. Not only are they facing the health risks associated with reproduction, but they also often lose the chance to receive an education and establish any independence.

Hundreds of thousands of women die each year in developing countries as a result of pregnancy-related complications. Millions of women want to delay or completely avoid pregnancy but are unable to due to lack of access to effective contraceptives or the inability to make the decision for herself to use contraceptives. Adolescent girls face repeated pregnancies beginning at an early age and often miss their opportunity to, at best, finish an education, or to even survive childbirth or worsening malnutrition and make a health transition into adulthood.

While working in Ghana several years ago, I participated in a community outreach program that involved traveling by foot through villages and administering Depo Provera shots to women while their husbands were working in the fields during the day. These women would be waiting at the road on the first Monday of every 3 months, desperate to receive their shot and have the comfort of knowing that they had prevented a pregnancy for another 3 months without their husbands' knowledge. They were able to sleep peacefully at night without worrying that their husband will refuse to wear a condom, will feel the bumps of Norplant in their arm or the string of an IUD in their uterus, or find a packet of pills.

It seems that the international community has recognized that in order to meet goals such as improving worldwide rates of malnutrition or decreasing poverty, women's reproductive rights must be protected and access to reproductive health care needs to be readily available. Once this crucial goal can be met, women will be able to contribute to their societies and, most importantly, will suffer just a little less.