Dr. Graciela Soto, Clinical Associate Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and USWC Board member, prepared a special presentation for the CSW70 Consultation in Geneva. She addressed the health issues that affect women worldwide. Some of the findings of her report were:
- Where are women’s health burdens coming from?
– 47% of the world’s health burden stems from conditions that affect women disproportionately (headaches, depression, autoimmune diseases).
– 4% stem from conditions that affect women different (arterial fibrillation, colon cancer).
– 5% stem from gynecological conditions.
– 43% stem from conditions that do not affect women disproportionally (chronic diseases- cardiac diseases, diabetes, hypertension)
- Women live longer but spend 25% of their lives in poor condition compared to men.
- There are huge gender healthcare gaps between men and women including the facts that:
- Research studies do not acknowledge gender differences.
- There is not enough data on women’s health.
- There are vast inequalities in healthcare delivery.