The third Millennium Development Goal is to Promote Gender Equality and Empowering Women. The hardest part about gender equality is that the least healthy and poor countries often have the most gender inequality. I am not saying that gender inequality leads to poor health but it can often be a factor in prohibiting the improvement of health.
For example, the average life expectancy in Afghanistan is about 50 years. That is in comparison with the US which has an average life expectancy of 78 years and Monaco which has the highest life expectancy of 89 years. The low life expectancy in Afghanistan probably has something to do with the war currently happening there but it also has to do with gender inequality. Women do not have very many rights in that society and will probably not get the health care they need because of it. I believe that gender equality is important in every society but sometimes people focus on unimportant parts of gender inequality. Once everyone in the world has the same basic rights then we can start getting more nit-picky about more philosophical rights.
If women live in a society where they have similar rights to men then they have more opportunity but they need to be empowered. One way that progress is being made on empowering women are micro loans. There are a few different companies that are giving micro loans for women in developing countries that they can use to create their own small businesses. It has been proven that when women earn income they are more likely to use that income to benefit their children. This mean of empowering women helps to strengthen families and can lead to healthier communities.
Another one of the Millennium Development Goals is to improve Maternal Health. Maternal Health is something that is often overlooked in our society. Many people do not know how prevalent maternal deaths are in today's world.
Maternal Health relates to all health problems that a woman might experience while she is pregnant, during delivery, and postpartum. The main reason for lack of maternal health is a lack of access. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that women have at least 4 visits with a doctor during pregnancy. In most under developed countries around the world women are not getting any prenatal care. This lack of care leads to so many complications. With this lack of care it means that the probability of death for both the mother and child are high.
This problem is huge but some simple fixes. If skilled birth attendants were trained and lived in villages where women were giving birth, the death rates would drop substantially. The skilled birth attendant could help with routine births and know when to get the woman to a doctor if she is having complications. The training of these attendants would be time intensive but the overall benefit would pay for itself.
Gender inequality and maternal health go hand in hand. Women around the world are not getting the respect and help that they need. If gender inequality can be eliminated and maternal mortality can be decreased then there would be a huge impact on overall health. Women are a key part of society and if women are healthy then they are able to strengthen their families, communities, and the overall public health.
Maternal Health relates to all health problems that a woman might experience while she is pregnant, during delivery, and postpartum. The main reason for lack of maternal health is a lack of access. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that women have at least 4 visits with a doctor during pregnancy. In most under developed countries around the world women are not getting any prenatal care. This lack of care leads to so many complications. With this lack of care it means that the probability of death for both the mother and child are high.
This problem is huge but some simple fixes. If skilled birth attendants were trained and lived in villages where women were giving birth, the death rates would drop substantially. The skilled birth attendant could help with routine births and know when to get the woman to a doctor if she is having complications. The training of these attendants would be time intensive but the overall benefit would pay for itself.
Gender inequality and maternal health go hand in hand. Women around the world are not getting the respect and help that they need. If gender inequality can be eliminated and maternal mortality can be decreased then there would be a huge impact on overall health. Women are a key part of society and if women are healthy then they are able to strengthen their families, communities, and the overall public health.
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