Health
Gender Inequalities, Root of Global Crisis in Health — WHO
A WHO report, “Fair share for health and care: gender and the undervaluation of health and care work”, illustrates how gender inequalities in health and care work negatively impact women, health systems and health outcomes.
The report that was released on Wednesday said that the outlines under investment in health systems resulted in a vicious cycle of unpaid health and care work lowering women’s participation in paid labour markets, harming women’s economic empowerment and hampering gender equality.
It said that women comprised 67 per cent of the paid global health and care workforce.
“In addition to this paid work, it has been estimated that women perform an estimated 76 per cent of all unpaid care activities.
” Work that is done primarily by women tends to be paid less and has poor working conditions,” it said.
The report highlighted that low pay and demanding working conditions are commonly found in the health and care sector.
” Devaluing care-giving, which is work performed primarily by women, negatively impacts wages, working conditions, productivity and the economic footprint of the sector.
“The report illustrates that decades of chronic under investment in health and care work is contributing to a growing global crisis of care.
” With stagnation in progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), resulting in 4.5 billion people lacking full coverage of essential health services, women may take on even more unpaid care work,” it said.
It said that the deleterious impact of weak health systems combined with increasing unpaid health and care work are further straining the health of caregivers and the quality of services.
Mr Jim Campbell, WHO Director for Health Workforce., said that “The ‘Fair share’ report highlights how gender-equitable investments in health and care work will reset the value of health and care and drive fairer and more inclusive economies.
“We are calling upon leaders, policy-makers and employers to take action: it is time for a fair share for health and care,” he said.
The report presented policy levers to better value health and care work which improve working conditions for all forms of health and care work, especially for highly feminised occupations and include women more equitably in the paid labour workforce.
Other policy levers are enhance conditions of work and wages in the health and care workforce and ensure equal pay for work of equal value and address the gender gap in care, support quality care work and uphold the rights and well-being of caregivers
Also , ensure that national statistics account for, measure and value all health and care work and invest in robust public health systems to reduce the burden of unpaid care work and improve the quality of healthcare services.
The report said that investments in health and care systems not only accelerate progress on UHC, they redistribute unpaid health and care work.
It said that when women participate in paid health and care employment, they are economically empowered and health outcomes are better.
According to the report, health systems need to recognise, value and invest in all forms health and care work.(NAN)
Hundreds of millions of children and adolescents around the world face daily violence in their homes, schools, and elsewhere which could have lifelong consequences.The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this on Thursday.The violence includes being hit by family members, being bullied at school, as well as physical, emotional, and sexual violence, WHO said.
In most cases, violence occurs behind closed doors. More than half of those aged two to 17 or more than a billion minors in total experience violence each year according to the WHO. In three out of five children and adolescents, it is physical violence at home, with one in five girls and one in seven boys experiencing sexual violence.Between a quarter and half of minors are affected by bullying according to the information provided.Only half of the children reportedly talk about their experiences of violence and less than 10 per cent receive help.Lifelong consequences could include depression and anxiety disorders, or tobacco and drug use.As a result, many children do not reach their learning potential in school.Against the backdrop of being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day-to-day reality for millions of children around the world leaving scars that span generations,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general.The UN’s first conference on violence against children opened in Bogota, Columbia on Thursday.At the two-day conference, more than 100 countries pledged to find ways to better support overwhelmed parents and introduce school programmes against bullying and for healthy social behaviour.They also pledged to raise the minimum age for marriage.Some countries wish to generally ban children from being hit at school or home. (dpa/NAN) The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed 17 bacteria, viruses and parasites that regularly cause disease as top priorities for new vaccine development.WHO, in a study published on Tuesday, reconfirmed long-standing priorities for vaccine research and development (R&D), including for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis – three diseases that collectively take nearly 2.
5 million lives yearly. The study is the first global effort to systematically prioritise endemic pathogens based on their regional and global health impact. Attention is also given to pathogens such as Group A streptococcus, which causes severe infections and contributes to 280,000 deaths from rheumatic heart disease, mainly in lower-income countries.Another new priority is Klebsiella pneumoniae — a bacteria that was associated with 790,000 deaths in 2019 and is responsible for 40 per cent of neonatal deaths due to blood infection (sepsis) in low-income countries.The new study supports the goal of ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can benefit from vaccines that protect against serious diseases.It aims to shift the focus in vaccine development away from commercial returns towards regional and global health needs, WHO’s Dr Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz, who works in vaccine research, said in a statement.He explained that in the past, vaccine R&D typically was influenced by profitability.“As a result, diseases that severely affect low-income regions received little attention.“We hope this represents a critical shift where we want to change the focus from commercial perspective profitability of new vaccines towards the actual health burden so that the new vaccine research and development is driven by health burden and not just commercial opportunities,” he said.To carry out the study, WHO asked international and regional experts what they think is important when prioritising pathogens for vaccines R&D.Criteria included deaths, disease and socioeconomic impact, or antimicrobial resistance.“We had asked experts that have expertise in pathogen epidemiology, clinicians, paediatricians, vaccine experts from all of the WHO regions, to ensure that the list and the results that we produce really reflect the needs of diverse populations worldwide,” Hasso-Agopsowicz said.Analysis of those preferences, combined with regional data for each pathogen, resulted in the top 10 priority pathogens for each of WHO’s six regions globally.The regional lists were then consolidated to form the global list, resulting in the 17 priority endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are urgently needed.To advance vaccine R&D, WHO has categorised each pathogen based on the stage of vaccine development and the technical challenges involved in creating effective vaccines.Hasso-Agopsowicz said the study is expected to guide future vaccine R&D investments, including funders, researchers and vaccine developers, and also policymakers as they “can decide whether to introduce these vaccines into immunisation programmes.” (NAN)
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan,has suspended the strike it embarked on Oct. 25.The workers resumed work on Friday morning.The seven-day nationwide warning industrial action embarked upon by the unions was to press home their demands ofadjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure as was done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure sinceJan.
2, 2014 and implementation of consultant cadre for pharmacists in federal health institutions. Others are upward review in the retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for consultants, andpayment of outstanding salaries of JOHESU members in professional regulatory councils.The UCH JOHESU Chairman, Mr Oladayo Olabampe, said that the strike was suspended as directed by the national body.He explained that “the suspension followed an MoU signed between JOHESU national leadership and Federal Government.“The Federal Government asked for a maximum of six weeks counting from Oct. 31, to meet our demands.“Based on the MoU signed, the JOHESU National Executive Council met and resolved that the strike be suspended on Fridaynationwide.”According to him, JOHESU UCH is obeying the order, and workers have resumed work.Olabampe said that if the demands were not met after the six weeks, they would embark on an indefinite strike. (NAN)
Tinubu Tasks Media to Hold Leaders Accountable
ShareFrom Mike Tayese, Yenagoa President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said the Media has a duty to hold the elected and...
Youth Advocate Urges LG Chairman to Key into Kogi Gov’s Devt Agenda
ShareFrom Joseph Amedu, Lokoja A Youth Advocate on grassroots advancement, Andrew Ochika has urged the newly elected chairman of Dekina...
FCTA to Dualize Kuje-Gwagwalada Road
ShareBy Laide Akinboade, Abuja The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike on Thursday revealed that President Bola Tinubu...
Insecurity: Nigeria Police Force Constables to Bear Arms
ShareFrom Dan Amasingha, Minna In its concerted effort at combating insecurity, the Nigeria Police Force has now authorized that all...
New Terrorists Group Emerges in Sokoto, Others – DHQ
ShareBy David Torough, Abuja The Defence Headquarters has confirmed the emergence of a new terrorist group known as ‘Lukarawas’ in...
Gen. Babangida Commiserates with Nigerians over Lagbaja
ShareFrom Dan Amasingha, Minna Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has commiserated with the President and Commander in Chief...
NESG, Tourism Stakeholders Meet to Validate Draft National Tourism Policy
ShareBy Tony Obiechina, Abuja Key stakeholders from Nigeria’s tourism, hospitality, and cultural sectors convened in Lagos for a pivotal validation...
Mutfwang Condole with Tinubu, Nigerian Army over Lagbaja’s Demise
ShareFrom Jude Dangwam, Jos Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang has extended his heartfelt condolences to President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian...
Niger Procures Five Mega Metal Boats to Curb Incessant Boat Mishap
ShareFrom Dan Amasingha, Minna Worried by the incessant boat mishaps that has claimed several lives over the years, Niger state...
FUTH Lafia to Provide Early Breast Cancer Treatment as TotalEnergies Donates Mammography
ShareFrom Abel Zwànke, Lafia In a major healthcare boost for Nasarawa State, TotalEnergies in partnership with other stakeholders has donated...