Women provide most health care globally – but often do not get the care they need, according to a hard-hitting report published yesterday.
The World Health Organisation report calls for health systems to better meet women’s needs – and for planners to ensure women’s organisations play a key role in developing services.
It accuses many countries of treating women as "second-class citizens."
Between the ages of 15 and 45 women die from pregnancy, HIV and TB, the report says. After this age, women become prone to disease and infection, it says.
And while heart disease and stroke are regarded as "male problems", they are in fact major killers of women, it says, with symptoms often not being recognised.
Nevertheless on average women live six to eight years longer than men and represent a growing proportion of older people, often living in poverty.
Women often lack access to education, income and decision making positions, WHO says.
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said: "It’s time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that is their right to health.
"We will not see significant progress as long as women are regarded as second-class citizens in so many parts of the world.
"In so many societies, men exercise political, social and economic control. The health sector has to be concerned. These unequal power relations translate into unequal access to health care and unequal control over health resources."
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