Ensuring that women receive essential health care is important for a number of reasons. Women face a unique set of health care challenges and are at greater risk of developing certain conditions and diseases than men. The leading causes of death for women are heart disease, cancer and diabetes, all of which could be treated or prevented if identified well in advance. Those who want to be mothers also need to think about pregnancy, which can present its own health risks for both the woman and the baby, making prenatal and postnatal care important.
And some of the health problems that affect both men and women can affect women differently. Because of the unique health issues women face, it may seem like you need countless doctor appointments just to cover everything. Research on women's health is essential to understand the impact that sex and gender have on various diseases and health in general. In addition to conducting ongoing research on women's health, it is equally important that search results are clear and available to women and their health professionals to enable informed decision-making.
In fact, thanks to research on women's health, researchers have been able to identify ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected women differently than their male counterparts. As a gender, women are culturally more likely than men to speak up and seek treatment for mental health problems. The health of women and girls is of particular concern because, in many societies, they are disadvantaged by discrimination based on socio-cultural factors. While heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among men and women alike, women are often underrepresented in clinical trials involving cardiovascular drugs.
