In this month’s extended Research Reflections blog from Healthwatch Essex, Research Officer Lorna Orriss-Dib and Research Ambassador Maria Karpouzou explore the impact of austerity on women’s health, drawing on their respective experiences living and working in the UK and Greece.
Definitions of ‘women’s health’ have typically focused on health issues concerning reproductive and maternal health. Whilst this is a critical part of women’s health (services providing maternity and reproductive healthcare, for example, must be safe, accessible, and high-quality), the way we define ‘women’s health’ needs to expand to encompass all aspects of a woman’s health and wellbeing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has remarked that there has previously been strong emphasis on the reproductive element of women’s health. Broader definitions that incorporate the wider determinants of health are needed (WHO, 2023).
A woman’s experience of disease can be different to that typically experienced by a man and those working in the health care system do not adequately recognise men and women’s contrasting experiences. This can negatively impact on the timeliness of referrals, women’s health-seeking behaviours, and quality of life. For example, in addition to the sudden onset of pain described by both men and women when having a heart attack, women may also experience symptoms of dizziness, shortness of breath, back pain and fatigue (Joseph et al., 2021). Health care practitioners’ failure to recognise these symptoms can lead to women’s delayed diagnosis and treatment when compared to men (Aggarwal et al., 2018). Women are also more likely to be diagnosed with multiple long-term conditions, particularly in middle-age (Head et al., 2021; Violan et al., 2014).
Furthermore, women encounter barriers when accessing and using health services. One study found that women who attended emergency departments with abdominal pain, on average had to wait longer than men for pain relief (Hayes et al., 2023). Male health care professionals are also more likely to perceive women’s pain as less severe than a male patient’s (Bernardes and Lima, 2011). It is unclear why such disparities in pain assessment occur, but stereotypical images of the stoic male and emotional female have been highlighted as factors by researchers.
Read more here:
https://healthwatchessex.org.uk/2024/02/austerity-and-womens-health/
