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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Health Buzz
Zimbabwe today joins the world in celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023.
This year’s commemorations recognise and celebrate the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education.
Running under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, the IWD will this year explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities.
The commemorations will also spotlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence.
According to the United Nations, a gender-responsive approach to innovation, technology and digital education can increase the awareness of women and girls regarding their rights and civic engagement.
Advancements in digital technology can offer immense opportunities to address development and humanitarian challenges, and to achieve the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Likewise, an advancement in the technological space could also help to address women’s health needs more fully and holistically.
While progress in fostering gender equality has been made, there is still a lot more that needs to be done to ensure that women can enjoy their right to health.
It has been 27 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, but there is still some work to be done towards health equity and women’s health.
The Beijing Declaration set out an ambitious plan of action for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Reflecting on what has been achieved and what must change, it is evident that there is still much to be done to achieve a healthier, safer and fairer world for all.
For now, the statistics are worrying.
Globally, over 800 women still die every day in pregnancy and childbirth — mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, violence against women remains devastatingly pervasive affecting one in every three women.
In Zimbabwe, statistics show that between January and November 2021, a total of 7 664 GBV cases were reported through the National GBV hotline.
This represented a 16 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020 (when cases stood at 6 600) and a 74 percent increase compared with the same period in 2019 (with 4 405 cases).
Of the reported cases, 94 percent of the survivors were women and girls.
Women face so many more challenges and with the advent of Covid-19, the existing inequalities were further exacerbated as the pandemic disrupted access to vital health and support services.
It is not that women’s health is more important than that of men. But the health of women and girls is of particular concern because, in many societies, they are disadvantaged by discrimination rooted in societal and cultural factors.
It is no secret that in many communities, there are unequal power relationships between men and women. Women and girls are assigned specific reproductive roles and their opportunities for education are somewhat diminished in comparison to their male counterparts.
Poverty poses a huge barrier to positive health outcomes for both men and women, but it tends to have a higher burden on women and girls’ health.
According to a 2021 study titled: “Technology as the key to women’s empowerment: a scoping review”, women are more likely to experience less favourable social determinants of health (such as over-representation of women in low-paying, insecure employment; lower education and literacy levels among rural and immigrant women) than their male counterparts.
The study says women also carry the bulk of responsibility for raising children and meeting household obligations, which, globally, contribute to this continued disadvantage.
“Gender, as a social determinant of health, is influenced by the “gendered” norms of the roles, personality traits, attitudes, relative power, and influence that society ascribes to it. The transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 saw the emergence of Target 5 which aims to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. A major SDG indicator supporting attainment of women’s empowerment is “enhancing the use of enabling technology by increasing the proportion of women and girls who have access’,” the report stated.
In the developed world, there has been a marked increase in the development of specific health innovations designed to transform female healthcare.
But for women in sub Saharan Africa, technology still plays a small role in their health and access to health services.
As recent reports reflect, technological innovations are broadening access for women in poor countries to often life-saving diagnostic procedures and other health needs.
Ultrasound machines are one of the innovations that can change the face of healthcare, particularly in marginalised communities.
In Zimbabwe, Government has made concerted efforts to ensure that each district hospital has at least one of these.
While the machines can go a long way in improving maternal care in remote areas, more are still needed to cater for many women.
But as ultrasounds becomes accessible to remote and underfunded clinics, women will have access not only to better pregnancy care, but also to preventative treatment, timely diagnosis and improved emergency care.
Mobile phones themselves can also improve women’s access to healthcare, particularly in rural areas.
Phones can be used to send reminders for immunisations or check-ups, provide remote consultations, facilitate access to health clinics, improve contact with local health workers, and track information during pregnancy and after, like infant growth.
While many women in urban areas have access to mobile phones, their rural counterparts are left behind.
Some of these women share a phone with their husbands and the husbands get to keep the device on them for the better part of the day.
This means that should the phone receive any health alerts, the women might only get to find out in the evening or after a few days depending on how often she gets access to the phone.
Should more women get access to cell phones, it could positively impact on their access to health services.
For remote areas where women cannot afford to leave their day to day duties to visit a health facility, the use of telemedicine could be used effectively.
Telemedicine, or remote medicine as it is sometimes called, allows doctors and other medical professionals to monitor and treat patients who may not be able to visit them in person at a local hospital or clinic for whatever reason. Zimbabwe launched the telemedicine application in 2019 and the pilot successfully ran in Manicaland where it was proven that remote medicine can work in hard to reach areas.
At least 12 sites in Nyanga district and other areas of Manicaland were connected to major referral health facilities at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
While the roll out of the project has slowed down owing to budgetary constraints, it is evident that telemedicine could revolutionise and modernise Zimbabwe’s healthcare system. In the process, more women will be able to access health services, particularly maternal and childcare services.
There is no doubt that technology has had a profound impact on nearly every aspect of daily life and the health care industry is no exception.
In fact, over the last several years, technology has played an increasingly important role in helping to improve health outcomes for people all around the world.
With better access to these technologies, Zimbabwe could transform women’s access to health and improve the outcomes for the attainment of universal health coverage.
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