EWL Participates in 2013 European Health Forum
(Brussels 04 October) The European Women’s Lobby Secretary General Cécile Gréboval participated in the 2013 session of the European Health Forum in Gastein (EHFG), Austria. The EHFG is the leading health policy event in the EU and takes place annually. It provides a major platform for decision-makers in various fields of public health & health care.
The EWL was invited to give input in a panel on health discrimination in the EU in the presence of EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg and other high level decision-makers. The EWL intervention pointed out some occurrences of discrimination from a gender equality perspective in particular with regard to elderly women and women with disability and in relation to access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
EWL Secretary General also stressed the general lack of a gender perspective in health policy. Indeed, while women are the majority of health care users and still, insufficient attention is given to their diverse needs throughout the life cycle. Research has started to show that there are important differences between women and men concerning symptoms of disease, how therapy is received and how women and men are treated. Examples of areas where a new approach is necessary include the gathering of gender disaggregated data, research on specific aspects of women’s health, gender-sensitive drug development or the inclusion of more women in trials and clinical testing.
The main EWL recommendation for the EU and Member States was that while it has been acknowledged by the EU and Member States that sex and gender are significant health determinants, in practice, most of the aspects of health policies have not yet moved away from the idea that the old „one fits all approach“ will benefit both genders and all social groups equally. It is therefore necessary to change this perspective and to integrate the diversity of women’s needs as well as sex and gender differences in medical research, data collection, medical testing, training of the care and medical professionals is crucial to improve the health and access to health care of women and men. Read EWL position paper’s on women’s health here.
More information.
The conference programe and participants are available here.
EWL Secretary General, Cécile Gréboval’s presentation is available for consultation here.
