Investing in women’s health

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:28:25 +0000

Men and women are not equal disease. Need a new kind of approach to the prevention, diagnosis and therapy based on evidence in science.
“This is an innovative topic – explains Maurizio Benato, president of the University of Padua Fnomceo and vice president – and strongly felt not only from a health point of view but also from a viewpoint of social policy. Use is investing in women’s health, on gender equality to health, understood primarily as a promotion of a true empowerment of women, knowing that it is not enough to speak of their rights if it does not develop a specific gender policy.
This policy can only be based on an accurate picture of the context in which it moves. “We must perceive – says Benato – gender differences exist, the problems and inequalities and incorporate these into strategies and actions to take gender as a social construct that changes over the years and from company to company. But not enough: You must also reaffirm that the promotion of women’s health must be considered a strategic priority, to reaffirm that the right to health of women promote development, democracy and social cohesion of a country, and reaffirm that the right to health for women means, above all freedom of exercise of sexual and reproductive rights. This is not an additional approach to the shared culture of rights and equality, but one of its repositioning.
Gender should be considered as a determinant of health because the prospect of changes and evaluation of data, makes explicit evidence otherwise unrecognized and invisible, outlines new priorities, actions, objectives and programs. “So this – concluded Benato – a methodological necessity, but also an instrument of government and governance of the health system because they promote the health of women serves as an indicator of the quality, effectiveness and fairness of the SSN, but also the welfare of society as a whole.”

Family Health Articles » Women’s health

Investing in women’s health