Following the International Women’s Day theme Roche Pakistan via Dia:logue on Diagnostics hosted a media talk on ‘Leading Women in Science, Breaking the Bias – together!’ to highlight the need of awareness and importance of women’s health in local hotel.
Gender is an important determinant of health, particularly in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) like Pakistan. Across the world, women make up 70% of the healthcare workforce, yet are the most neglected when it comes to women’s health issues. Studies from multiple South Asian regions have reported women to have experienced greater barriers to healthcare compared to men, resulting in overall poorer health outcomes and higher mortality. Putting this into context of human lives, women’s health is a whole lot more than reproductive wellness or gynecology.
It needs to be a collaborative effort for better health for women with men and women, as health equality for today means a sustainable tomorrow. Just like continuous testing helped in developing more helpful solutions for Covid, it is same for other diseases, said Zarfishan Tahir– Dean- Institute of Public Health (IPH)
‘Our system is patriarchal hence we need to educate men (about women’s health)’ – Dr. Bushra Jamil
Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, AKUH and President, Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan
‘One couldn’t have mentioned the word Breast Cancer on-air twenty years back but now we are talking about it which tells us the importance of awareness first then empowering them for their health concerns. Sehat Card– Initiatives like Sehat Card are good start for average earning people but we still need to expand the scope as it has limited disease screening and treatment – Hafsa Shamsie – MD Roche Pakistan
Karachi has the highest rate of Breast Cancer in South East Asia. We see an influx of women coming for the diagnosis after every October – awareness month of Breast Cancer- which tells us how much frequent awareness would help in maintaining and access to better health for women – Prof. Dr. Naveen Faridi- Head, Department of Pathology at 1Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College.
Sehat Sahulat Card is helping a lot in improving the accessibility to better health and diagnosis. WHO is working on hospital setups for Patients Safety for better health facilities. Having the control over your decision making power is important and the mindset needs to be changed when it comes to women health. Diagnosis should be done at community levels first with the help of female health workers. –Dr. Sara Zuberi Salman- Provincial Head of Office (Sindh) at the WHO
As a healthcare company that has been on the forefront of COVID-19, Roche is leading the charge on this important and timely discussion as part of its public awareness initiative “Dia:logue on Diagnostics”. In line with the International Women’s Day theme for 2022, let’s #BreakTheBias and work together to give women’s health the priority that it deserves.
