Health authorities must embrace their role in promoting gender equality: WHO

WHO on Thursday said that women continue to face barriers in accessing health services, be it for reasons of gender disparity, poverty, education or other factors, and called upon health authorities across its southeast Asia region to embrace their role in promoting gender equality and women empowerment.

On the eve of International Women's Day, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh said though achieving gender equality and empowerment of women requires a "whole-of-society approach", the health sector has a crucial role to play in it.

"Health authorities across the WHO South-East Asia Region must recognise and embrace it," she said.

Recent progress demonstrates the impact health sector initiatives can have on women's well-being, a key dimension of their empowerment, Singh said while highlighting how maternal mortality reduced by 69 per cent in the region between