Women’s Health: WHO Reports 295,000 Maternal Deaths Annually Despite Preventable Causes
Key Facts
- According to WHO, approximately 295,000 women died from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications in 2017, with 94% of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries
- WHO data shows that globally, 810 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for roughly two-thirds of maternal deaths
- An estimated 214 million women in developing regions who want to avoid pregnancy lack access to modern contraception, WHO reports
- WHO identifies that cervical cancer kills approximately 311,000 women annually, despite being highly preventable through HPV vaccination and screening programs
- According to WHO’s global health estimates, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women globally, killing approximately 8.9 million women each year—more than all cancers combined
When WHO released its 2023 report on the state of women’s health, the findings captured a paradox that’s defined global health for decades: women live longer than men on average—by 4-6 years in most countries—yet face distinct health vulnerabilities across the lifespan that healthcare systems systematically neglect. Maternal mortality remains stubbornly high despite the fact that nearly all pregnancy-related deaths are preventable with existing interventions. Cervical cancer kills hundreds of thousands of women annually despite having a vaccine and effective screening. Mental health disorders, intimate partner violence, and reproductive health needs go unaddressed in health systems designed primarily around acute care and male-pattern disease. This article examines what WHO’s data reveals about the global burden of women’s health challenges, from biological factors to structural barriers rooted in gender inequality, and whether health initiatives are finally recognizing that women’s health extends far beyond maternal care.
What Is Women’s Health? — WHO’s Definition
According to WHO, women’s health encompasses the health of women across the entire lifespan—from infancy through adolescence, reproductive years, and older age—addressing both biological factors specific to female physiology and the social, economic, and cultural determinants that disproportionately affect women’s health outcomes. WHO’s framework explicitly rejects the historical tendency to equate women’s health solely with maternal and reproductive health, instead recognizing that women face distinct health risks, disease patterns, and healthcare barriers across all health domains.
WHO identifies several dimensions that define women’s health as a distinct public health priority. First, biological sex differences: women experience unique health conditions (pregnancy, menstruation, menopause), different disease presentations (cardiovascular disease symptoms often differ from men’s), and sex-specific disease risks (osteoporosis, autoimmune disorders more common in women). Second, gender-based determinants: gender inequality, limited decision-making power, violence against women, and discriminatory laws and norms that restrict access to education, economic opportunity, and healthcare. Third, healthcare system biases: underrepresentation of women in clinical research, diagnostic criteria based on male-pattern disease, and provider bias that dismisses women’s symptoms.
The key insight WHO emphasizes is that addressing women’s health requires both sex-specific medical interventions and gender-transformative approaches that address the social determinants and structural inequalities that shape health across women’s lives. You can’t separate biology from social context—they interact to create distinct health vulnerabilities and barriers to care that affect women globally.
Global Burden
WHO’s data reveals a complex global burden. The most visible and politically salient issue is maternal mortality: approximately 295,000 women died from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications in 2017 (WHO’s most recent comprehensive estimates), translating to roughly 810 deaths every day. But that figure, while catastrophic, represents only a fraction of women’s health burden. The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)—maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—shows stark inequalities: 546 in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 11 in high-income countries. According to WHO’s maternal health data (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality), a woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 37 lifetime risk of maternal death, compared to 1 in 6,500 in high-income countries.
Beyond maternal mortality, the disease burden is vast. Cardiovascular disease kills approximately 8.9 million women annually—35% of all female deaths globally and more than all cancers combined, WHO reports. Yet cardiovascular disease in women remains underdiagnosed and undertreated because symptoms often differ from male presentation and diagnostic criteria were historically developed in male populations. Research published in The Lancet (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02427-0/fulltext) documents that women with heart attacks are less likely to receive guideline-recommended treatments and more likely to die compared to men with similar conditions.
Cancer burden is substantial and growing. WHO data shows breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women globally, with approximately 2.3 million new cases and 685,000 deaths in 2020. Cervical cancer—almost entirely preventable through HPV vaccination and screening—kills approximately 311,000 women annually, with 90% of deaths in low- and middle-income countries where screening programs are limited or non-existent. Lung cancer mortality among women is rising in many regions, reflecting historical increases in smoking prevalence among women in some countries.
Mental health disorders affect women disproportionately. WHO reports that depression is approximately twice as common in women as men globally, with anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder also showing higher prevalence in women. The mechanisms are complex—both biological factors (hormonal influences) and social factors (gender-based violence, caregiving burden, economic inequality) contribute. According to research in JAMA Psychiatry (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry), women account for approximately 70% of depression cases globally yet are underrepresented in mental health research and often face barriers to accessing care.
Reproductive health needs extend far beyond maternal care. WHO estimates that 214 million women in developing regions who want to avoid pregnancy lack access to modern contraception—a gap with profound implications for maternal health, educational attainment, economic opportunity, and autonomy. Unsafe abortion causes approximately 13% of maternal deaths globally, WHO reports, yet access to safe abortion services remains restricted in many countries. Sexually transmitted infections including HIV disproportionately affect young women—in sub-Saharan Africa, young women aged 15-24 account for 80% of new HIV infections in that age group despite not being at inherently higher biological risk.
The intersection with gender-based violence is critical. WHO’s multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241593512) found that approximately 1 in 3 women globally have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, predominantly by intimate partners. This violence creates both direct health impacts (injuries, mental health disorders, sexual and reproductive health complications) and indirect effects through disrupting healthcare access and economic stability. The pattern parallels broader recognition that comprehensive gynecology and women’s health solutions must address the full spectrum of health needs, not just reproductive care.
Geographic and socioeconomic inequalities are massive. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia bear disproportionate burden across nearly all women’s health indicators. But even within high-income countries, marginalized populations—racial and ethnic minorities, Indigenous women, rural populations, low-income women, LGBTQ+ individuals—face systematically worse outcomes. Maternal mortality among Black women in the United States is 2-3 times higher than white women even after controlling for education and income, reflecting systemic racism in healthcare systems.
Causes, Risk Factors and Structural Determinants
Women’s health challenges arise from complex interactions between biological sex differences, gender-based social determinants, and healthcare system failures. WHO’s framework distinguishes these levels to enable targeted interventions.
Biological sex factors create distinct health vulnerabilities. Hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause influence disease risk and symptom presentation. Pregnancy itself creates physiological stresses—increased blood volume, altered immune function, metabolic demands—that can unmask or exacerbate underlying conditions. WHO documents that conditions like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia during pregnancy predict future cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk, yet postpartum follow-up to manage these risks is often inadequate.
Autoimmune disorders affect women at far higher rates than men—approximately 80% of autoimmune disease patients are women. The mechanisms aren’t fully understood but involve interactions between sex chromosomes, hormones, and immune system regulation. Similarly, osteoporosis affects women more than men due to lower peak bone mass and accelerated bone loss after menopause when estrogen declines.
But WHO’s analysis emphasizes that biological factors alone don’t explain the health gaps. Gender-based social determinants are equally or more important. These include: limited decision-making power over healthcare, finances, and reproductive choices; unequal access to education and economic opportunity; disproportionate unpaid care work and domestic labor; gender-based violence; discriminatory legal frameworks (laws restricting women’s mobility, property ownership, or access to services); and healthcare provider bias and dismissiveness toward women’s symptoms.
According to research in The Lancet Commission on Women and Health (https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/women-and-health), gender inequality operates through multiple pathways to harm health. Educational disparities limit health literacy and economic opportunity. Economic dependence on male partners reduces women’s ability to seek care or leave abusive relationships. Lack of legal rights restricts access to property, credit, and services. Cultural norms that prioritize male family members’ health needs mean women delay or forgo their own care. Child marriage and early pregnancy in many regions creates health risks from physiologically immature bodies bearing children.
Healthcare system failures compound individual and social determinants. Clinical research has historically excluded or underrepresented women, meaning diagnostic criteria, treatment protocols, and drug dosing are often based on male physiology. Cardiovascular disease symptoms in women are “atypical” only because typical was defined as male presentation. Medical training often inadequately covers women’s health beyond obstetrics. Provider bias—conscious or unconscious—leads to women’s pain being dismissed as emotional or psychological rather than investigated as potentially serious organic disease.
Access barriers are structural. In many countries, women need male permission to access healthcare. Geographic distance to facilities, particularly for specialized reproductive health services, creates barriers for women with limited mobility or transportation. Cost is prohibitive when women control less household income. Lack of female healthcare providers matters in contexts where cultural norms restrict women from seeing male doctors. Clinic hours that conflict with work or caregiving responsibilities reduce access.
The reproductive health risk factors WHO documents include: lack of access to contraception, unsafe abortion services, lack of skilled birth attendance, inadequate antenatal and postnatal care, female genital mutilation (affecting approximately 200 million women globally), and lack of comprehensive sexuality education. These aren’t individual failings—they’re policy and system failures.
Signs, Symptoms and Health Impacts Across the Lifespan
WHO identifies distinct health impacts across women’s lifecourse. In childhood and adolescence, nutritional discrimination in some regions (boys fed preferentially) creates undernutrition that affects growth, cognitive development, and future health. Early marriage and pregnancy—41,000 girls under 18 marry daily according to UNICEF data—creates obstetric fistula risk, increased maternal mortality, and interrupted education. Mental health disorders including eating disorders often emerge during adolescence but frequently go undiagnosed.
During reproductive years, the health impacts are multifaceted. Maternal mortality and morbidity remain the most visible: hemorrhage, infection, hypertensive disorders, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortion complications kill hundreds of thousands and cause lifelong disability in millions more. WHO estimates that for every woman who dies in childbirth, approximately 20-30 experience serious complications including obstetric fistula (causing chronic incontinence and social isolation), uterine prolapse, and severe anemia.
Menstrual health impacts are underappreciated. WHO recognizes that menstrual disorders—heavy bleeding, severe pain, irregular cycles—affect work, education, and quality of life for millions of women yet are often dismissed as normal. Conditions like endometriosis (affecting approximately 10% of women of reproductive age) take on average 7-10 years to diagnose, during which women experience chronic pain, infertility, and reduced quality of life.
Reproductive cancers create specific disease burden. Cervical cancer is unique in being caused by a sexually transmitted infection (HPV) that’s vaccine-preventable, yet kills over 311,000 women annually—almost all preventable deaths. Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect early and has poor survival rates. Breast cancer affects 2.3 million women annually, with survival highly dependent on early detection and access to treatment—creating massive inequalities between high- and low-income settings.
Cardiovascular disease presents differently in women. According to WHO data and cardiovascular research, women are more likely than men to experience “atypical” symptoms—fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea—rather than classic chest pain. This contributes to delayed diagnosis and treatment. Women also have higher rates of certain cardiovascular conditions like Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (stress-induced heart failure) and spontaneous coronary artery dissection.
Mental health impacts span the lifespan but intensify during reproductive years. Perinatal depression affects approximately 10-15% of women during pregnancy or postpartum and can have serious consequences for both maternal and child health. Anxiety disorders, PTSD (often related to gender-based violence or traumatic childbirth), and eating disorders disproportionately affect women. Yet mental health services are inadequate globally, and stigma prevents many women from seeking care.
In older age, WHO identifies distinct challenges. Menopause—a normal physiological transition—is medicalized in some contexts and entirely ignored in others, leaving women without support for symptoms that can significantly affect quality of life. Osteoporosis risk increases dramatically after menopause, yet screening and prevention remain inadequate. Cardiovascular disease risk, lower during reproductive years, increases to match or exceed men’s rates. Dementia affects more women than men partly because women live longer, but also because of sex-specific risk factors. Older women face compounded discrimination—ageism plus sexism—that affects healthcare quality.
The health impacts of violence against women span all ages but peak during reproductive years. Physical injuries, sexual and reproductive health complications (STIs, unintended pregnancy, obstetric complications), mental health disorders (depression, PTSD, substance abuse), and chronic health conditions result from violence exposure. The intergenerational transmission is documented—children exposed to intimate partner violence experience elevated health risks throughout life.
Treatment and Health Response
WHO reports that current approaches to women’s health remain fragmented and inadequate despite decades of advocacy. Maternal health services have received the most attention and investment, yet access gaps remain vast. WHO recommends at least four antenatal care visits during pregnancy, skilled birth attendance, and postnatal care—yet in sub-Saharan Africa, only 52% of births are attended by skilled health personnel, and many women receive no antenatal care.
When complications arise, access to emergency obstetric care is life-or-death. WHO’s standards for comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) facilities include blood transfusion, cesarean section, and treatment for life-threatening complications. But according to WHO’s global monitoring (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240043114), many low- and middle-income countries have fewer than 1 CEmONC facility per 500,000 population—far below the recommended minimum. Distance, cost, and lack of transportation create additional barriers, contributing to high maternal mortality.
For non-communicable diseases affecting women, treatment access is even more unequal. Breast cancer treatment requires surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapies—a treatment cascade available in high-income countries but largely inaccessible in low-income settings where most breast cancer deaths occur. WHO reports that 5-year breast cancer survival exceeds 90% in high-income countries but is below 40% in some low-income countries—a gap reflecting late diagnosis and lack of treatment access, not biological differences.
Cardiovascular disease treatment for women faces specific barriers. Women are less likely to receive guideline-recommended treatments including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for heart attacks, cardiac rehabilitation, and preventive medications. Research documents both provider bias (underestimating women’s cardiac risk) and systemic barriers (cardiac rehabilitation programs scheduled during caregiving hours). Women also experience higher rates of adverse effects from some cardiac medications, suggesting sex-specific dosing may be needed—but research is limited.
Mental health services for women are grossly inadequate globally. WHO’s Mental Health Atlas shows that most countries lack adequate mental health services, and women face additional barriers including stigma, lack of female providers, cost, and competing demands from caregiving responsibilities. Perinatal mental health services are particularly neglected—screening for postpartum depression is inconsistent, and treatment access is limited even when problems are identified.
Reproductive health services face access barriers rooted in policy, cost, and stigma. Contraception access, while improved, remains limited in many regions by cost, stock-outs, provider bias, or restrictive laws. Safe abortion services are unavailable or heavily restricted in many countries, forcing women to seek unsafe procedures. According to WHO data (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion), approximately 45% of all abortions globally are unsafe, causing an estimated 13% of maternal deaths—almost entirely preventable with access to safe services.
Cervical cancer screening and treatment programs exist in most high-income countries but are limited or absent in low-income settings where 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur. WHO’s strategy for cervical cancer elimination (https://www.who.int/initiatives/cervical-cancer-elimination-initiative) calls for 90% HPV vaccination coverage, 70% screening coverage, and 90% treatment access—targets most low-income countries are nowhere near achieving with current resources.
Gender-based violence response services—medical care, mental health support, legal services, safe shelter—are severely limited globally. Many healthcare systems lack protocols for identifying and supporting survivors of violence. In some settings, healthcare providers are required to report sexual assault to police, deterring women from seeking care. The integration of violence screening and response into routine healthcare remains minimal in most countries.
The pattern mirrors broader healthcare system failures: WHO champions gender equality in health systems, but actual implementation lags far behind policy commitments. Women’s health needs are often treated as specialized add-ons rather than core health system functions, resulting in underfunding, workforce shortages, and fragmented care.
Prevention and WHO Strategies
WHO frames women’s health through a prevention lens spanning primordial (addressing social determinants), primary (preventing disease onset), secondary (early detection), and tertiary (preventing complications) prevention. The most cost-effective interventions are primordial and primary—addressing root causes rather than treating disease after onset.
For maternal mortality prevention, WHO’s strategies center on ensuring access to the continuum of care: family planning to prevent unintended and high-risk pregnancies, skilled antenatal care to identify and manage complications, skilled birth attendance with access to emergency obstetric care when needed, and postnatal care to address post-delivery complications. The evidence is clear: countries that achieved maternal mortality reduction did so through health system strengthening that made these services universally accessible, not through technological innovation.
WHO’s family planning guidance emphasizes rights-based approaches: voluntary, informed choice among a range of contraceptive methods, without coercion or discrimination. Access to contraception prevents an estimated 308,000 maternal deaths annually by averting unintended pregnancies and enabling birth spacing, WHO estimates. Yet political opposition, religious restrictions, and underfunding limit access in many regions.
For cervical cancer, WHO launched the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem in 2020 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240014107), with targets of 90% HPV vaccination coverage for girls by age 15, 70% screening coverage by age 35 and 45, and 90% treatment access for precancerous lesions and invasive cancer. HPV vaccination—targeting girls before sexual debut—can prevent up to 90% of cervical cancers if coverage is high. But as of 2020, only 15% of girls globally had received the vaccine, with coverage concentrated in high-income countries.
Cardiovascular disease prevention for women requires addressing both traditional risk factors (smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity) and women-specific factors (pregnancy complications that predict future CVD risk). WHO advocates for gender-responsive CVD prevention that recognizes women’s distinct risk profiles and symptoms. But implementation remains limited—women are underrepresented in cardiac rehabilitation programs and less likely to receive preventive medications like statins even when clinically indicated.
Breast cancer prevention is limited—most risk factors aren’t modifiable. WHO’s focus is on early detection through screening (mammography in high-resource settings, clinical breast exam in resource-limited settings) and health system strengthening to ensure rapid diagnosis and treatment when cancer is detected. But mammography screening programs require substantial infrastructure and aren’t cost-effective in all settings, particularly where baseline breast cancer incidence is lower.
Mental health prevention requires addressing social determinants. WHO’s guidelines emphasize gender-based violence prevention, economic empowerment, education access, and social support systems. Screening for perinatal depression and anxiety, with follow-up support, can prevent progression to severe mental illness. But these interventions require health system capacity that’s largely absent in low-resource settings.
Gender-based violence prevention is perhaps the most critical upstream intervention for women’s health. WHO’s framework aligns with the RESPECT model: Relationship skills strengthening, Empowerment of women, Services ensured, Poverty reduced, Enabling environments created, Child and adolescent abuse prevented, Transformed attitudes and norms. These are population-level, multi-sectoral interventions requiring sustained commitment far beyond the health sector.
Health system strengthening with gender lens is essential. WHO advocates for gender-responsive health services: training providers on women’s health across the lifespan (not just maternal care), addressing provider bias, ensuring female healthcare workers are available, designing services accessible to women (location, hours, cost), and including women in decision-making about health policy and programs. The parallel to commemorating pioneering figures like Muthulakshmi Reddy, who advanced women’s health in India, reminds us that women’s health advocacy has deep historical roots—yet systemic barriers persist.
WHO’s Global Efforts
WHO’s work on women’s health has evolved from a narrow focus on maternal and reproductive health to recognition of lifecourse health needs and social determinants. But this conceptual evolution hasn’t always translated to resource allocation and political priority.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include multiple women’s health targets: SDG 3.1 aims to reduce global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030; SDG 3.7 targets universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services by 2030; SDG 5 focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Progress has been mixed. Maternal mortality declined substantially from 2000-2015 but stalled in recent years, and most countries are not on track to meet the 2030 target.
WHO’s 2021 publication of the WHO Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health and Well-Being (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240030909) included important provisions for women’s reproductive health self-care, including self-administration of medical abortion pills, self-collection for HPV testing, and self-injectable contraceptives. These interventions can expand access in settings where healthcare infrastructure is limited. But regulatory barriers and political opposition limit implementation in many countries.
The World Health Assembly has adopted multiple resolutions on women’s health. WHA70.15 in 2017 on prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases included attention to sex-disaggregated data and women-specific interventions. But implementation remains inconsistent, and women’s cardiovascular disease, mental health, and non-maternal health needs receive far less funding and attention than maternal health.
WHO’s collaboration with UN Women, UNFPA, and other UN agencies through the UN Women’s Health and Rights Initiative aims to coordinate efforts across reproductive health, HIV prevention, violence prevention, and gender equality. But coordination doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of insufficient resources and political will. According to analysis in the BMJ (https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/371/bmj.m3210.full.pdf), women’s health receives less than 1% of global health funding when maternal and reproductive health are excluded—a stunning gap given that women represent half the global population and face distinct health needs across the lifespan.
Regional efforts vary substantially. WHO’s Regional Office for Africa has focused heavily on maternal mortality reduction, with some success—but progress has been uneven and insufficient. WHO’s Regional Office for Europe has addressed cardiovascular disease and cancer screening for women. WHO’s Regional Office for the Americas has worked on violence prevention and reproductive health access. But these regional programs operate with limited budgets and often without strong political backing from member states.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupted women’s health services globally. WHO documented substantial increases in maternal mortality in multiple countries due to disrupted antenatal care, facility closures, and women’s reluctance to seek care during lockdowns. Contraceptive access was disrupted. Gender-based violence increased during lockdowns. Mental health impacts were severe. Yet pandemic response largely ignored these gendered impacts until advocacy groups forced attention. The pattern reveals how easily women’s health drops off the policy agenda when other priorities emerge.
The editorial question is whether global health will ever treat women’s health with the seriousness it deserves. Maternal mortality has been on the international agenda since the Safe Motherhood Initiative in 1987—nearly 40 years ago—yet 810 women still die daily from preventable causes. Cervical cancer has a vaccine and effective screening, yet kills 311,000 women annually. Cardiovascular disease kills 8.9 million women yearly yet receives a fraction of research and prevention funding compared to conditions affecting primarily men. Why?
The answer is uncomfortable but clear: women’s health has been systematically undervalued because women’s lives have been undervalued. From world history to contemporary policy, gender inequality has shaped which health problems receive attention and resources. As International Day of Action for Women’s Health advocates have argued for decades, achieving health equity requires addressing the structural gender inequalities that determine health across women’s lives.
Will we ever see the political will and resources to achieve what we know is possible? Countries like Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, and Malaysia achieved dramatic maternal mortality reductions through sustained health system investment. South Korea’s cervical cancer screening program demonstrates what’s achievable with comprehensive coverage. The tools exist—what’s missing is political commitment to use them for all women, not just those in wealthy countries. Similar to campaigns that have shifted outcomes in areas like breast cancer awareness and early detection, women’s health advocacy continues to push for systemic change. But advocacy shouldn’t be necessary to secure basic healthcare—that we still need it reveals how far we have to go. And as awareness campaigns like World Cancer Day demonstrate the power of sustained attention to specific health issues, the question remains whether women’s health as a whole will ever command comparable priority—or whether we’ll continue treating it as a specialized concern rather than a core imperative affecting half of humanity.
FAQ
What are the leading causes of death among women globally?
WHO data shows cardiovascular disease is the leading cause, killing approximately 8.9 million women annually—more than all cancers combined. Other major causes include stroke, chronic respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, lower respiratory infections, breast cancer, and maternal conditions. Disease burden varies by age and region, with maternal mortality dominating in younger women in low-income countries while NCDs dominate in older women and high-income settings.
Why is maternal mortality still so high if most deaths are preventable?
WHO reports that approximately 94% of maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries due to preventable causes including hemorrhage, infection, hypertensive disorders, and unsafe abortion complications. Barriers include lack of skilled birth attendance, inadequate emergency obstetric care facilities, geographic distance to care, poverty limiting access, gender inequality restricting women’s decision-making power, and health system weaknesses. High-income countries have maternal mortality ratios 50 times lower, demonstrating these deaths are preventable with adequate health systems.
How does cardiovascular disease affect women differently than men?
WHO identifies several sex differences: women often experience “atypical” symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath rather than chest pain, leading to delayed diagnosis; women are less likely to receive guideline-recommended treatments and cardiac rehabilitation; some cardiovascular medications have different effects or side effects in women; and pregnancy complications like preeclampsia predict future CVD risk. Women’s cardiovascular disease is underdiagnosed and undertreated because diagnostic criteria and research were historically based on male populations.
What is WHO’s strategy for eliminating cervical cancer?
WHO’s global elimination strategy targets 90% HPV vaccination coverage for girls by age 15, 70% screening coverage by ages 35 and 45, and 90% treatment access for precancerous lesions and invasive cancer. HPV vaccination prevents up to 90% of cervical cancers if given before sexual debut. Screening (via HPV testing, Pap smear, or visual inspection) detects precancerous changes for treatment before cancer develops. However, as of 2020 only 15% of girls globally had received HPV vaccine, and screening coverage is minimal in low-income countries where 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur.
Why does WHO emphasize addressing gender inequality for women’s health?
WHO’s framework recognizes that gender inequality operates through multiple pathways to harm women’s health: limited decision-making power over healthcare and finances, restricted access to education and economic opportunity, gender-based violence affecting 1 in 3 women, discriminatory laws limiting rights and mobility, healthcare provider bias, and underrepresentation in clinical research. Addressing women’s health requires both medical interventions for sex-specific conditions and social changes addressing gender-based barriers to health and healthcare access.
Sources
- World Health Organization. (2024). Women’s health. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/health-topics/women-s-health
- World Health Organization. (2023). Maternal mortality. Fact sheet. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality
- GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators. (2020). Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 396(10258), 1204-1222.
- Vogel, B., et al. (2021). The Lancet women and cardiovascular disease Commission. The Lancet, 397(10292), 2385-2438.
DISCLAIMER
This article adapts publicly available information from WHO’s Women’s Health page. This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. ObserverVoice.com is a news and information platform—not a healthcare provider.
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