Issued by: SA Communication Service
Health ministers and senior health officials from more than 30 Commonwealth countries today announced a three-year action plan for "Women and Health" at the conclusion of their triennial Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting in Cape Town. The four-day conference wa the first Commonwealth ministerial meeting held in South Africa.
The action plan recommends practical steps to enhance the health of women and to enable them to play an equitable role in health matters. Ministers had determined that the involvement of women was essential for the well-being of everyone. Women were responsible for most of the informal health education, training and care in the family and the community, and formed the majority of health workers, yet at policy making levels they remained under-represented.
The plan deals with two specific aspects: women's health, and the role of women in bringing about the general well-being of the community. In dealing with Health for Women, the plan focussed on issues ranging from: violence against women; men's role in women's reproductive and sexual health; coping with HIV/AIDS; and noncommunicable diseases. Its recommendations included: encouraging governments to enact and enforce legislation to ensure that all forms of violence against women are recognised as criminal acts, and to provide effective support services; legislation to establish a minimum age for marriage and sexual contact which is guided by health and other considerations; promotion of the use of male fertility control methods such as condoms and vasectomy.
Dealing with the wider role of Women for Health, the plan of action focussed on the role women play in the provision of health for the community. Commonwealth ministers were concerned at the disproportionate representation of women in policy-making and recommended that governments take deliberate action to include women at all decision-making levels. They called for legislation, quotas and targets, among other recommendations, to bring this about. The plan noted that the use of tobacco was increasing rapidly in developing countries, especially among women and girls, and that this development was having serious health implications for the whole country. This was a dilemma faced by tobacco-producing countries in the Commonwealth who endorsed attempts to find alternative crops. The ministers called upon governments to develop "comprehensive strategies" to reduce tobacco consumption. Measures they suggested might include: raising taxation to increase the price of tobacco, an age limit on sales, banning vending machines and smoking in public places, banning advertising and promotion by tobacco companies of sporting, cultural and other significant events.
The Commonwealth ministers agreed that they would meet to review progress on implementation of the Plan of Action when they attend the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May, 1996.
Issued by the Information Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, Britain. Tel: 071-839 3411; Fax: 071-930 0827; Telex: 27678