10 Facts About Women's Health

While life expectancy is higher for women than men in most countries, a number of health and social factors combine to create a lower quality of life for women. Unequal access to information, care, and basic health practices further increase the health risks for women.

Discrimination on the basis of their sex leads to many health hazards for women, including physical and sexual violence, sexually-transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Tobacco use is a growing threat among young women, and mortality rates during pregnancy and childbirth remain high in developing countries.

This fact file highlights 10 key areas that have serious consequences for women's health:

1.  Smoking rates among men tend to be 10 times higher than for women.
2.  Of all adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, 61% are women.
3.  Between 15% and 71% of women around the world have suffered physical or sexual violence committed by an intimate male partner at some point in their lives.
4.  Studies show that up to 1 in 5 women reports being sexually abused before the age of 15.
5.  Even though early marriage is on the decline, an estimated 100 million girls will marry before their 18th birthday over the next 10 years.
6.  About 14 million adolescent girls become mothers every year. More than 90% of these very young mothers live in developing countries.
7. Every day, 1600 women and more than 10,000 newborns die from preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth. 
8. Insecticide treated nets (ITNs) reduce malaria cases in pregnant women and their children.
9. In most countries, women tend to be in charge of cooking. When they cook over open fires or traditional stoves, they breathe in a mix of hundreds of pollutants on a daily basis. This indoor smoke is responsible for half-a-million of the 1.3 million annual deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among women worldwide.
10. Across the world and at all ages, women have a significantly higher risk of becoming visually impaired than do men.

WHO/H. Bower http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/women/en/index.html

April 7 World Health Day

The World Health Organization highlights one of its priorities as a world health issue each year. And the World Health Day sponsored by WHO is observed each year on April 7 to recognize this health issue. This special day was first designated in 1950, and each year has been dedicated by the WHO towards the achievement of the goals of the global health issue. Various activities and programs are planned to create awareness of the specific health issue. To learn more about the 2011 World Health Day, go to:  www.who.int/world-health-day

Prayer Corner 

• For women who are facing health issues
• Praying for women in Egypt
• For the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
• For Heather-Dawn Small's travel to EUD and TED
• For Raquel Arrais' travel to SPD

Calendar

7 April - World Health Day