Content provided in partnership with
Health Care Industry
Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedSteps for preventing infectious diseases in women
Emerging Infectious Diseases, Nov, 2004 by Mirta Roses Periago, Ricardo Fescina, Pilar Ramon-Pardo
Gender Framework for Infectious Diseases
The World Health Organization has developed a framework (8) that outlines the parameters of a gender approach for understanding the differential impact of communicable diseases on women and men (Figure). Few studies have focused on the economic and productive impact of infectious diseases, considering the cost of reduced or lost productivity and expenditures on drugs and health care at the individual worker level. For the most part, these studies have failed to capture the economic impact of disease within the household. And it is precisely at the household level that women are most affected, both as caregivers and as patients.
- Most Popular Articles in Health
- Fuel your workout: exercisers who eat before they work out have more energy ...
- Soothe a dry, itchy scalp: 5 easy expert solutions
- Cocktails and calories: Beer, wine and liquor calories can really add up. ...
- The sour truth about apple cider vinegar - evaluation of therapeutic use
- The, six best supplements you've never heard of: these secret weapons can ...
- More »
[FIGURE OMITTED]
In most developing countries, unemployment is higher among women, and when women are employed, their salaries are generally much lower than men's (9). These conditions mean that women have fewer resources than men, yet spend more of their own income on health care for their children and other family members. Structural adjustment programs have placed additional burdens on women. Reductions in state-supported healthcare programs have resulted in reduced access to health care for the poorest populations, and long waits in clinics have serious repercussions for women's time for other activities.
The framework also includes many social determinants of infectious diseases, such as domestic and social roles and responsibilities, cultural norms affecting exposure, available support networks, social stigmas, use and quality of health services, and decision-making power within the household and community. In many cultures, men are still given better care within the family, as well as outside. Women's lower status in the household affects their access to information about health and preventive measures, as well as their ability to seek treatment. Evidence suggests that women's ability to make decisions has considerable influence on the health of their children. When health messages meant for women are directed to men, their direct influence on women's understanding and behavior may be greatly diluted.
On the other hand, when men have taken responsibility for their children's health care, results have been dramatic. In Ghana, for example, the fathers' participation in the decision to immunize their children not only increased vaccination rates but also led to earlier immunization and more timely completion of the immunization schedule (10). These findings show that health programs can be improved by educational messages that promote the sharing of child care and are directed to the family as a whole, not just to the mother, as has traditionally been done.
Physicians' tendency to release knowledge only when they consider it necessary has been found to curtail women's understanding and adherence to medical advice. For example, a study in rural Bolivia found that women living in areas where Chagas' disease was endemic were able to recognize triatomine bugs and had seen them in their houses, but 59% did not know that they could transmit disease (11). Health education programs are based on modern biomedical explanations that often are too abstract for persons to link to their own environment. In addition, health authorities do not sufficiently build upon local perceptions of disease and disease transmission.
Find Research Guides for:
Most Popular Articles in Health
- Fuel your workout: exercisers who eat before they work out have more energy ...
- Soothe a dry, itchy scalp: 5 easy expert solutions
- Cocktails and calories: Beer, wine and liquor calories can really add up. ...
- The sour truth about apple cider vinegar - evaluation of therapeutic use
- The, six best supplements you've never heard of: these secret weapons can ...
- More »