Women’s health is nation’s wealth: HOW HAVE WOMEN FARED DURING COVID 19?

Often, we hear about women’s independence in society. According to us, it is more of inter-dependence. Both woman and man have an equal role to play, but it is the woman who embarks on the journey of giving life. Unless we ensure that a woman has access to universal healthcare, especially to prevent maternal deaths and take on the non-communicable diseases, we cannot claim that we have addressed all issues of women,” observed Dr Hema Divakar, CEO of ARTIST for Her and past president of FOGSI (1).

This mantra includes covering the broad umbrella of women’s healthcare – from the womb to tomb approach, as every health issue faced by a woman is complex (1).

Meeting women’s health needs and eliminating gender inequality are moral imperatives and fundamental human rights, and investment in women’s health should therefore not require justification (2). Although women live longer than men, they have specific unmet health needs and higher morbidity (3). Women not only provide most of the informal care in homes and communities, they also represent 70% of the global health workforce, making them central to overall population health (4).