The health and well-being of women is the health and well-being of the world. And yet:
- Every day, 1,600 women and more than 10,000 newborns die from preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
- Women working full time in the United States are paid just 80 percent of what men are paid for similar work, a gap of 20 percent.
- Of all adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, 61 percent are women. In the Caribbean, the proportion of women living with the virus is 43 percent.
- Of all deaths due to cervical cancer, 86 percent are in low- and middle-income countries.
- 1 in 5 women reports being sexually abused before the age of 15.
We could go on. And at the 2016 International Council on Women’s Health Issues (ICOWHI) Congress this month in Baltimore, we did go on about addressing issues of violence, isolation, economics, aging, social determinants of health, and ultimately empowerment through participation, advocacy, education, and research. We talked about moving the needle—what that meant and what it would take: Adjust the political mind-set and ethical standing on a woman’s place in the world, put ideas to work, and prepare, innovate, and be resilient.
Read Dean Davidson’s full blog entry at huffingtonpost.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: PATRICIA M. DAVIDSON
Patricia M. Davidson, PhD, MEd, RN, is dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a fellow of the Australian College of Nursing, the American Heart Association, the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Nursing. She is counsel general of the International Council on Women’s Health Issues and actively involved in the international activities of Sigma Theta Tau International. Follow her on Twitter (@nursingdean).
