While women in the UK live longer than men on average, they spend most of their lives in poor health or with disabilities. How the health care system should approach women's health, Tiffany Sadler, the British ambassador to Slovenia and the regional representative of the health care and life science campaign, spoke at the Women's Health Congress.
The health of women and men requires separate attention
Published July 7, 2022 09:54
In opening her speech, Tiffany Sadler recalled Florence Nightingale, an English nurse, social activist and journalist considered to be the founder of modern nursing. - She was famous for being human and caring for others. She was the first to emphasize the importance of good nursing care. She was also interested in statistics, she believed that in health care one should rely on data analysis. It also paved the way for a career for women in the healthcare sector. It is worth mentioning here, for example, Sarah Gilbert, who developed the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, she recalled.
Women live in worse health than men
- Why is it worth focusing on women's health as a separate issue, separate from men's health or health in general? There is a lot of evidence that women's health requires special attention - she emphasized.
She reported that while in the UK women live longer than men on average, they spend most of their lives in poor health or disability. Healthy life expectancy for women has fallen in recent years, while it has not changed for men. Besides, there are many health problems that only affect women. Including menstrual health and gynecological issues: fertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, puerperium, menopause, and the health impact of violence against women and girls. In addition, some diseases affect women differently than men, and sometimes failure to understand this leads to poorer counseling and diagnosis and worse treatment outcomes. So this requires further research and awareness-raising.
Women's health requires separate attention
Tiffany Sadler announced that last year the UK Department of Health and Human Services published a long-awaited report on women's health. Six areas of key importance emerge from it. The first is giving women a voice on matters relating to their health and care. The second area is improving the quality and availability of information on women's health. The third is to ensure that the health care system understands and responds to women's health needs throughout their lives. The fourth is about promoting women's health in the workplace. Fifth, ensure that research, evidence and data contribute to women's health. And the last is to understand the effects of Covid-19 on women's health.
- Our Minister of Health has made a commitment to change the attitude towards women's health and we hope that it will happen - she emphasized.
At the end of her speech, Florence Nightingale quoted: “Let the person responsible have a simple question in mind. No, how can I always do the right thing myself, but how can I make sure the right thing is always done? ".
