The Importance Of Women's Health

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A woman is an important individual in the society and her health affects the society in general. With the identification of women importance, the MDG 5 focuses on women’s sustainable health and development. The Lancet Commission comprised of academicians, clinicians, advocates, policy makers and scientists in different disciplines and roles in health care, made recommendations in redefining the field of women’s health thus ensuring that comprehensive health needs are met thought out life (Langer, 2015).
Women face lots of stressor everyday that render her vulnerable to illness and health issues and strengthening women’s health is crucial because a healthy woman contribute to better educated and more productive societies (Onarheim, 2016). …show more content…

These barriers lead to poor maternal health of women that increases the rate of maternal mortality. Maternal malnutrition as perceived by over nutrition is a sign of poor maternal health. According to WHO BMI of Asian categories, 19.7% are overweight and 26.8% are obese which supported by the study that Filipino women had the highest proportion of overweight and obesity (Appel, 2011). Maternal malnutrition can lead to chronic non-communicable diseases like heart diseases (22%), cancer (21.6%), stroke (6%) and diabetes (2.7%) –which are the leading causes of female death in a 2014 survey of the Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC, 2017). Moreover, study shows that Filipino American women have highest rates of cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure incidence (Appel, 2011). Aside from chronic non-communicable diseases in women, worldwide about 50-55% of adults with HIV are women (Murray, 2015) and women’s living with HIV around the globe continues to grow, compromising women’s sexual and …show more content…

Studies shows that education is associated with good maternal health (Sun et al, 2012; Jayachandrans and Lleras-Muney, 2009; Tooth, 2015; Onarheim, 2016) as supported by the study above that educated woman possess autonomy in making decision for her own health and well-being. The government, NGO’s and other grassroots organization supporting women’s health should include programs in improving the level of education of women especially those who are below poverty line, as for healthier women lead to a more productive and healthier society. In addition, caring for women is critical that health care provider recognize and understand the importance of culturally sensitive care (Appel, 2011) as culture can hinder women’s access and utilization of health care services. Providing a culturally sensitive health care services provide efficient and cost-effective health care. In improving the MCN practice, the nurse need to understand the diversity of her clients for woman’s culture, level of education, mental and psychosocial issues affects the delivery of quality health care in women, as these issues presented in different studies

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