where are we now and where next?

The special series aims to promote women’s health and gender equality.

Progress in gender equality has been made in all 12 key areas identified in 1995 The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Women – but for millions of girls and women around the world today, this visionary program is still far from reality.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) commissioned a special series of papers on “Women’s Health and Gender Inequalities” with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Human Reproduction Program (HRP) and the United Nations International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH).

Launched at the World Health Summit, the series reflects priorities articulated twenty-five years ago to improve women’s health and asks: what has been learned and what still needs to change?

Critical areas of concern for women’s health and gender equality

The Beijing Declaration reaffirmed that women’s rights are human rights and that gender equality is a key building block for health, well-being, development and peace.

Topics covered in the BMJ series include a wide range of social and medical factors that affect women’s health, such as sexual and reproductive health; violence against women, mental health, non-communicable diseases, climate change, limited inclusion of women’s specific health needs in clinical research and the role of the feminist movement in women’s health.

This series also includes a co-authored article by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Uneven progress and new threats to women’s health

Progress in women’s health remains fragile and uneven. Although progress has been made in reducing it maternal mortality and harmful gender practices such as female genital mutilation, millions of women still have an unmet need for contraception.

Rising rates of reproductive cancers, mental illness, noncommunicable diseases, and new disease epidemics, including Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19, highlight the need for a holistic approach to women’s health throughout their lives.

While there is a bigger one recognizing women as service providers health care many face unacceptable levels of harassment, violence and harassment in the workplace.

Access to health services for millions of women remains limited, although countries are moving to progressively achieving universal health insurance. This is partly related to the emphasis on employment-based health financing, which excludes women who aspire to work in the informal sector.

Impact of COVID-19

Amid the monitoring of progress in the Beijing Declaration, the COVID-19 pandemic limits or reverses the results achieved towards gender equality. Although women and men appear to be infected with COVID-19 in approximately equal numbers, health care workers, who are the majority of service providers in the first place, have an increased risk of infection.

COVID-19 has led to growing economic insecurity, driving millions, especially women working in the informal sector, into unemployment. Locking measures have increased the already high burden of unpaid work in women’s care, including caring for children, the sick and the elderly. And removal measures have increased violence against women and children – a widespread issue even before the pandemic.

Many governments prioritize health services provided in the context of COVID-19 and unfortunately reduce access to basic services for women – including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, which includes services for survivors of violence.

Urgent call to action: Invest in women’s health

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and UN Rector David Malone argue that “Covid-19 provides an opportunity to rethink the future in which women’s health and health will be about human rights it cannot be negotiated, gender equality is achievable and working on it is the norm. “

The health, well-being and needs of half the world’s population cannot be treated as an afterthought. Investing in women’s health is a moral and smart imperative. It saves lives, reduces poverty, increases productivity and boosts economic growth with up to nine times the return on investment.

The WHO stands for the Beijing Declaration and marks the 25th anniversary with a series of activities.

Learn more about our participation in Beijing + 25.

Read the BMJ series. Additional papers will be added in March 202