A Healthy World
Globally, women's health status is affected by many factors, including
social, environmental, and economic conditions and access to education, to work, and to
health care. Many women live in poverty and are subjected to violence. Women's rights and
gender equity vary from country to country. Statistical data related to women's health are
often limited, making it difficult to assess health status and progress. more ...
Publications
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Gender, Women, and
Health in the Americas
Web Sites
 America's Commitment to Women
Organizations
UN
Division for the Advancement of Women
Women Watch
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Publications
International
Nursing
Organizations
Peace Corps
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID)
American
International Health Alliance (AIHA)
American
Medical Student Association (AMSA)
American Public
Health Association
CARE
Center For
International Health And Development
Central American Medical
Outreach (CAMO)
Community Information and
Epidemiological Technologies
Médecins Sans Frontières
(Doctors Without Borders)
Esperança, Inc
Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
Global
Health Action
Global
Medicine Network
International
Association of Physicians in AIDS Care
International Medical
Volunteers Association
Measure DHS+
Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO)
The World Bank
World Health Organization
International
Health Alliance
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Publications
Caring for Women with Circumcision - A Technical Manual for Health Care
Providers
(Not available on-line. Call NWHIC at 1-800-994-9662 to request a copy.)
Frequently Asked Questions -
Female Genital Cutting
Female Genital Mutilation
Female Genital
Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation - The
Facts
Female Genital
Mutilation: Common, Controversial, and Bad for Women's Health
Organizations
Amnesty International
FGM Education and
Networking Project
Research, Action and
Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women
World Health
Organization
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Publications
Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, The
Human Rights: The
Foundation of Public Health Practice
Universal
Declaration on Human Rights
Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action
Organizations
American
Nurses Association Center for Ethics and Human Rights
Amnesty International
Doctors for Global
Health (DGH)
International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC)
International League for
Human Rights
International
Women's Rights Action Watch
Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Physicians for Human
Rights
Physicians for Social
Responsibility
Project DIANA Online Human
Rights Archive at Yale Law School
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Organizations
International Monetary Fund
The World
Bank Group
World Health Organization
Institute for Health
Sector Development (IHSD)
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Publications
USAID Global Health:
HIV/AIDS, Leading the fight against HIV/AIDS
Consensus
Statement Overview: Interventions to Prevent HIV Risk Behaviors
Global Health Council
AIDSLink
Web sites
Globalhealth.gov
HIV/AIDS Links
Organizations
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation
Gender, HIV and Human
Rights: A Training Manual
Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNIFEM
HIV/AIDS Newsroom
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Web sites
Globalhealth.gov
- Country Information
Globalhealth.gov
- World Health Statistics
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Publications
NIAID
Global Health Research Plan for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis
The
Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States
Action
Against Infection - WHO
Emergency
and Humanitarian Action - Communicable Diseases
Epidemiological Fact
Sheets by Country - WHO
Global
Tuberculosis Control 2001
Guidelines
for Sexually Transmitted Infections Surveillance - WHO
Guidelines
for the Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections - WHO
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2.
Programmatic and Research Priorities in Developing Countries.
Malaria
Diagnosis - New Perspectives
Overcoming
Antimicrobial Resistance
Tuberculosis
Control, an Annotated Bibliography
Organizations
Division
of Tuberculosis Elimination
Global Alliance for
TB Drug Development
Malaria Vaccine
Initiative at PATH
Roll
Back Malaria (RBM)
The Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The
International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)
The Special
Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)- WHO
WHO
Communicable Diseases Program, TB Prevention and Control
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Publications
America's
Commitment 2000
America's Commitment
to Global Health
America's Commitment:
Beijing +5
Meeting our Challenges
in the New Century
USAID Global Health:
HIV/AIDS, Leading the fight against HIV/AIDS
Working with
Partners to Improve Global Health
Beijing +5
Commission on the Status
of Women -- Report on the forty-fifth session
Web Site
Fourth World
Conference on Women
Organizations
CDC Office of Global Health
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID)
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Publications
Gender and Women's
Mental Health: Gender disparities and Mental Health
Atlas: Mental Health
Resources in the World 2001
Nations for Mental
Health: Gender Differences in the Epidemiology of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia
Insights
Into The Concept Of Stress
Insights
Into The Concept Of Stress - Workbook
Statistics on
Homicides, Suicides, Accidents, and Attitudes towards Violence
The World Health
Report 2001, Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope
Women's Mental Health: An
Evidence Based Review
Web sites
Mental Health
Bulletin
National
Alcohol Screening Day
Organizations
Mental
Health and Brain Disorders
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Publications
Improved Food
Security, Quality and Availability
A New Agenda for
Women's Health and Nutrition
Global
Food Projections to 2020: Emerging Trends and Alternative Futures
Web sites
Nutrition
Special Programme for
Food Security (SPFS)
Organizations
Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
Freedom from
Hunger
International
Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Oxfam International
The Food Security
Network
The Hunger Project
UNICEF
World Food Programme
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Web sites
GenderNet
United Nations
Women's Watch
Demographic and
Health Surveys
Organizations
United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA)
The
Population Institute
POPPlanet
Population Health and
Nutrition Project
Population Reference
Bureau
Johns Hopkins
Maternal and Neonatal Health Program
Global Reproductive Health
Forum
Center for Reproductive
Law and Policy
American
International Health Alliance (AIHA)
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Publications
Comparison
of Advertising, Sponsorships, and Promotion Regulation Provisions
Comparison
of Licensure Regulation
Comparison
of Smoke-Free Environments Regulation
Tobacco: Global Effects of
Tobacco Use
Trends
in Cigarette Consumption
Curbing the Epidemic :
Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control.
Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control ( FCTC)- A Primer
Women and
Tobacco
Web Sites
Research for
International Tobacco Control
Organizations
Global Tobacco Prevention and
Control
The
National Tobacco Information Online System (NATIONS)
World Bank
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Publications
Pregnancy, Breast-Feeding,
and Travel
Travel Warnings and
Consular Information Sheets
Traveling with Children
International
Health Regulations
International travel
and health
International
Travel: Tips for Staying Healthy
Travel
Medicine: Helping Patients Prepare for Trips Abroad
Immunizations
and Chemoprophylaxis for Travel-Related Diseases
Infectious
Diseases
World Health
Organization International Travel and Health
Web Sites
Traveler's Health
Organizations
U.S. State Department
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Publications
Polio Case Count
Immunization:
at a Glance
Six Common
Misconceptions about Immunization
The Safety of
Vaccines
Useful Facts
and Figures about Commonly used Vaccines
Web Sites
Children's
Vaccination Program
Organizations
Accelerated Vaccine Introduction
(AVI) Priority Project
BASICS II
Children's Vaccine Program at PATH
Gates
Children Vaccine Program
Global
Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunizations (GAVI)
Stop TB
The Global
Polio Eradication Initiative
The Safe
Injection Global Network (SIGN)
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Publications
A Practical
Approach to Gender-Based Violence: A Programme for Health Care Providers and Managers
Web Sites
United Nations Women's Watch
Organizations
Amnesty International
UNIFEM
Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women
United Nations
Development Fund for Women
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The good news is that health is improving and life expectancy
continues to increase for both women in most developing regions, according to a recent
United Nations report, The World's Women
2000, Trends and Statistics.
Life expectancy for women in some regions, however, is being dramatically
reduced by HIV/AIDS. Worldwide, women now account for almost half of all cases of HIV/AIDS
and in countries with high prevalence, young women are at higher risk than young men of
contracting HIV. Women also make up about half of all the deaths due to HIV/AIDS since the
beginning of the epidemic. The majority of these deaths have occurred in Sub-Saharan
Africa, where women make up 55 percent of those infected with HIV. Over the past decade,
life expectancy for female babies in Sub-Saharan Africa dropped precipitously from 51.1
years to 46.3 years. For males, the level dropped from 47.3 years to 44.8 years.
Social and cultural factors can increase women's vulnerability to HIV and
determine the course that the infection takes in their lives. Women often do not have the
power to insist on safe sexual practices and have little access to public health
information and services, both of which have been found to be effective in preventing the
disease and/or slowing its progress. HIV/AIDS reaches beyond women's health to their roles
as mothers and caregivers and their contributions to the economic support of their
families.
In many developing countries, women's health concerns are compounded by
difficult circumstances such as extreme poverty; the devastating effects of violence,
conflict and natural disasters; homelessness or inadequate shelter; and lack of access to
adequate food and safe water supplies. These circumstances all can have severe and
long-lasting effects on women's health. Other factors that can affect women's health
include the lack of human rights and the inability to control reproduction and maintain
sexual health. When women are sexually active or forced into sexual activity at a young
age, they are at risk of suffering both short- and long-term effects of sexually
transmitted infections (including HIV), early pregnancy, and unsafe abortion.
Violence against women affects millions of girls and women worldwide.
Women and girls can be abducted or sold into sexual slavery. Women and girls comprise half
of the world's refugees and, as refugees, are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence
while in flight, in refugee camps and/or during resettlement.
The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in
1995 produced a Declaration and Platform for Action related to improving the lives of
women. The Beijing + 5
review, a special session of the U.N. General Assembly held in 2000, and other
activities have continued to review progress and focus attention on issues of gender
equality, human rights, and women's health concerns.
Key global health issues affecting women include:
HIV/AIDS-an important contributor to excess morbidity and mortality in
women in many countries and especially in countries in southern Africa, where women
account for more than half of all cases of HIV/AIDS
Reproductive and sexual health issues, including access to birth control
and family planning options
The common practice of female genital cutting in many countries,
especially in Africa
Poor reproductive health outcomes including high rates of maternal and
infant mortality
Lack of access to health education, other preventive services, and
health care
Violence against women, including physical, sexual, and psychological
violence
Poverty and its impact on health, particularly in developing countries
Impact of war and regional conflicts on health, including problems of
refugees and displaced persons
Environmental problems and natural disasters and their effects on health
Lack of adequate nutrition and access to safe food and water
Violations of human rights and gender equality
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