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
1990 and 2015, and use of contraceptives increased from 46 pc to 60 pc between 2001 and 2015.
During the same period, total fertility rate dropped from three to 2.4 children per woman. The human papilloma virus vaccine, so crucial in preventing cervical cancer, is meanwhile gaining traction as global calls to eliminate the disease grow, she said.
"There is, however, a long way to go. In the health sector and beyond, gender equality and women empowerment must be a core priority, both to fulfil the human rights of women and girls across the region, as well as to leverage the society-wide benefits it guarantees," she said.
Increasing access to family planning services more generally will reduce the number of women treated for abortion-related complications and will also reduce unwanted pregnancies that can affect women's health and limit their life-choices, Singh stressed.
"Health authorities should likewise 'build smart' in their approaches to universal health coverage. Whether for reasons of gender inequality, poverty, ethnicity, education or other factors, many women continue to face barriers to access, even as the coverage and quality of health services increase.
"These barriers must be addressed as a matter of priority. Importantly, when both women and men can access the services they need, as they need them, the burden of unpaid care in families (which typically falls on women and girls) is reduced and gender equality is advanced," she said.
To 'innovate for change', she suggested use of creative approaches for grassroots engagement and the use of new technology.
That could mean working with women's groups to find ways to address gender-based violence or helping change of norms around early marriage. It could also mean reducing the digital gender divide and rolling out mHealth technologies to enhance women and girls' health literacy and encourage timely health-seeking, Singh said.
"On International Women's Day, as every other day, WHO is committed to achieving gender equality, to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and ensuring that women's right to health is respected, protected and fulfilled," she added.
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