Worldwide Survey Shows that Women’s Health Has Declined

A global survey found a decrease in some major factors that negatively affect women’s health. These factors not only affect women but also their families.

Medical tech company Hologic partnered with analytics company Gallup to do a global survey on women’s health. They surveyed over 66,000 women from 122 countries. The objective was to see if women’s health needs were being met in categories such as basic needs, general health, preventative care, mental health, and safety.¹

The survey’s data revealed that the overall score for the Global Women’s Health Index was one point lower than the previous year. Taiwan, Latvia, Austria, and Denmark were the highest-ranked countries. Afghanistan, Congo, and Venezuela were some of the lowest-ranked countries. The United States (US) was ranked 23rd place on the list.¹

The survey found that women are feeling more stressed, anxious, sad, and angry. Compared to men, women are more likely to not have enough money to afford basic necessities such as food. Approximately 1.5 billion women did not have access to preventive health care and less than 1 in 8 women had had any cancer screening during the last year.¹

Dr. Susan Harvey, vice president of worldwide medical affairs at Hologic, told CNN, “Overall, the data is sobering. And we understand that we need women to be healthy to fully engage and be empowered. It’s clear that the time has come to work together and begin to find solutions and improve women’s health care.” ¹

The United Nations is also aiming to improve many aspects of women’s health. Unfortunately, according to a report from UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, gender equality will take centuries to achieve.¹

The director of the Institute of Gender in Medicine at Charite Hospital in Berlin, Gertraud Stadler, told CNN “The economic and psychological burden of the pandemic will weigh down many households for a while, and we know that it particularly affected women. Women often have the role of health manager in their families and communities. And they are taking on a large share of care work, so children, partners and parents benefit as well from women’s health. My hope is that we come out stronger from the pandemic. The pandemic has brought the importance of preventive behaviors to more people’s attention. People learned a lot about the importance of joint action to protect each other.” ¹

To read the original article from CNN click here.

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