Women bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s poverty. Statistics indicate that they are more likely than men to be poor and at risk of hunger. This is certainly due to the systematic discrimination they face in education, health care, employment and control of assets. According to some estimates, women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor.
More than 30 million people are today living with HIV and, globally, women now account for half of all infections. Yet women increasingly make up the majority in sub-Saharan Africa where young women ages 15–24 are up to six times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men of the same age.
Why does it happen? According to the UN women website, “gender inequality and violations of women’s rights make women and girls particularly susceptible, leaving them with less control than men over their bodies and their lives. Women and girls often have less information about HIV and fewer resources to take preventive measures. They face barriers to the negotiation of safer sex, including economic dependency and unequal power relations”.
What about women’s poverty and cancer incidence and mortality? I have already reported the higher incidence and the higher mortality of carcinoma of the cervix uteri in the developing world as compared to the high-income western world which is mainly due to the lack of primary or secondary prevention. Every day in Africa many women die of this totally preventable cancer which is related to human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Most of them even ignored the disease they were suffering from. Other than the lack of medical care and health facilities in the countries they live in, gender inequality and violations of women’s rights do play a major role in this tragedy too.
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