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  • Title: Gender-planned health services.
    Author: Raikes A, Shoo R, Brabin L.
    Journal: Ann Trop Med Parasitol; 1992 Aug; 86 Suppl 1():19-23. PubMed ID: 1489242.
    Abstract:
    Gender-planned health services are planned on the basis that women and men play different roles in society and have different medical needs. The feminist movement has provided a broad charter of rights for women, reflecting women's needs, but these have yet to be translated into operational programmes. National programmes for women would allow co-ordination of broad-based programmes to improve women's health and social position. To change social norms discriminating against women will require changing male attitudes. Health programmes for males have received little attention, except from family planning organizations, although in most countries, males have a high rate of accidents, infections and parasitic disease. Controlled studies are required to evaluate the benefits of gender-planned health services. Gender-planned health services acknowledge the fact that women and men have different social roles and different medical needs. To date, most gender-specific health issues have been addressed to women's reproductive health needs, and women's groups have criticized maternal and child health services for their emphasis on child health. Justifications have made for adopting a broader reproductive health approach and redefining women's health care needs for the 1990s. Such an approach would improve access and quality in: 1) prenatal and maternity care, 2) family planning (FP) services, 3) legalized abortion, 4) special services for adolescent girls, 5) the area of nutrition, 6) treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), 7) treatment of infertility, and 8) information and medical services in cases of female genital mutilation. Access to FP has received the most donor support to date. All of these issues, however, are now a recognized part of a holistic approach to women's health, and more emphasis is being placed on prenatal care, abortion, and adolescent reproductive health needs. Women's "other" health needs include food security, access to water, ways to combat violence, treatment for drug abusers, and occupational health needs. Women's health status is related to the level of female education, the status of women in society, equal access to income activities or credit, and control over these resources. Men, too, need specific care, especially in areas related to risk-taking behavior. They need improved occupational health services that emphasize prevention; organized recreational activities, especially for adolescents; rehabilitation services for criminals; better health and sex education in schools; and strategies to avoid smoking, accidents, and STDs. Health programs can also change the attitudes of men toward women, including attitudes that are detrimental to women's health such as the belief that women are weak and that good women are quiet, subservient, and bear many children. Men should be knowledgeable about health services for women, because men are a source of information and financial support for women. Reproductive health strategies for men have been sidelined by the concern of feminists that women gain the right to control their fertility decisions. But FP groups do offer men information and education in an effort to increase men's responsibility for contraception. This has had mixed results because, in some areas, older female relatives have more influence over family fertility than men and may be a more appropriate audience. Since care givers have no prior experience in gender planning, clinical health problems must be assessed in terms of how they affect men and women as they function in their society.
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