Women Health: Why Is It Important?

Of the whole population in the world, women make almost 50% of it. But despite being such a huge number, they have been treated like passive citizens and often counted as the ‘submissive’ gender. This social stigma has deprived women of many rights and has indirectly contributed to their ill health. Women are the child bearers of the human race, but sadly, they have been indicated or sometimes seen as the child producing factories only. Being a woman is not an easy job. At present, women in urban areas and developed countries are living in a much better condition than they used to before. Considering the whole world and the time scale, it can be concluded that there is still a large fraction of women that are unaware of their rights and they fail to take care of their health. The result being increased cases of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Maternal Mortality Rate.

The World Health Organization has revealed that every one in three females is anemic. Most of the complications due to pregnancy and MMR have increased due to the diet they take. Their diet is deficient in most of the nutrients like proteins and micro nutrients like iron, iodine, vitamin A, etc. this is due to lack of knowledge, poor socio-economic status and the unavailability of several nutrients in the diet. The women of low socioeconomic group don’t go for proper medical checkups and that is what makes the condition more miserable. Not only does it causes increased incidences of maternal mortality but also induces some unexpected changes in the foetus including malnutrition, under developed brain, congenital disorders and neural tube defect. So we can say it is all like the butterfly effect where the less amounts of nutrients included in the diet cause complications in the mother which in turn affect the foetus and increase the Infant mortality Rate too.

What is the solution then? There are many programs running solely for the improvement in the health of pregnant and lactating mother along with their children. One such scheme is the ICDS (integrated child development scheme) that runs in all the anganwadi school and community health centers that aim to empower women by educating them, preparing them for pregnancy, giving them proper supplements to fulfill their dietary requirements, take home rations etc. they promote the breast feeding which is must for the normal cognitive development of the infant. So now you see how the health of a woman is linked directly with the future of our nation! The topic of women health is so vast and it has several aspects. It is indeed a topic of concern and we should understand that without women there is no nation; there is no empowerment!