In the last 20 years, the percentage of Mexican households headed by a woman has grown by 50%, and there are very clear indications that, in terms of health, these households are more socially vulnerable than those with a male head of family. Simply in households with female heads of family, the probability of catastrophic spending increases markedly and even more so if there is an older adult in that family.
These are signs that violence against women in Mexico is very present, enhanced and aggravated in the field of health. But it is something that is difficult to see and therefore it is difficult to apply a gender perspective in health policies.
For this reason, the Economic and Health Impact of Noncommunicable Diseases in Mexican Women research project, which is being launched by the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in collaboration with the George Institute in Sydney, Australia, and sponsored by the Mexican Association of Pharmaceutical Research Industries (AMIIF).
It was presented yesterday, April 26, within the framework of the AMIIF Innovation Week, where Dr.
Eduardo Lazcano Ponce, general director of the INSP, said that in particular the aim is to document the economic and health impact attributable to these non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with an emphasis on gender inequalities.
It will be 18 months in which the researchers Edson Serván and Emanuel Orozco – who lead the study – will be looking for evidence that in Mexico, diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus II affect men and women differently, and therefore , your attention must be with a gender perspective:
“First, we must make visible that gender inequalities are not only in the reproductive issue or in vulnerability due to violence, but also in the great labor or economic inequalities that open up when we include variables such as suffering from a non-communicable disease and the dramatic panorama with which they live in Mexico”.
Today it is not possible to see gender inequality in health because it is thought that when faced with a need for medical care there is equal access, but the study of these researchers will seek to demonstrate that this is not the case. Neither for access to medical services nor in terms of social and labor rights that impact health. And this is where it can be understood, for example, that the risk of catastrophic and impoverishing spending increases when family authority is female. There must be many very dramatic stories that only those families know how they live.
The Director of Access to Innovation at AMIIF, Karla Báez, gave some data that reaffirm the scenario: women in Mexico are the majority but with poor living conditions. Two out of 3 female deaths are due to NCDs. For example, cancer, depression, and autoimmune diseases occur primarily in women.
According to INEGI, we are 51.43% women (in CdMx the figure rises to 52.5%) with a life expectancy greater than that of men, but 32% of those women with greater survival have a bad time with health problems.
More data: The majority of people with HIV are women, especially between 15 and 24 years old. Obesity is much more common in women than in men. It must also be said that the homes in the communities are the women who seek health in the family, that 70% of the socio-sanitary personnel in Mexico as in the rest of the world are women, but half of what women contribute It is not paid because the issue of caregivers occurs within the family, something that seems out of place but that is what is happening.
Four pillars of IMSS Welfare
Now that Tlaxcala has been signed as the second state to transfer its health services to IMSS-Wellness, the general director of IMSS, Zoé Robledo, announced that said program is based on four pillars: 1. Primary health care, 2 Having specialists -especially residents who are in the last year of their field rotation-, 3. Participation of the communities for co-responsibility in health care; and 4. the Social Security system in matters of medicines, supply, supply, equipment and infrastructure. In Tlaxcala, 800 million pesos will be invested in the initial stage and 500 health professionals will be hired, according to Governor Lorena Cuéllar.
BD is defined by hybrid scheme
A recent survey by Business Insider revealed that after the pandemic, 1 in 2 companies in Mexico (52%) prefer hybrid work and only 1 in 5 want to return to the traditional scheme. Becton Dickinson Mexico (BD), one of the largest global medical technology companies, decided to be among the first, since Julio Duclos, vice president and general director of BD Mexico, Caribbean and Central America, decided to invest 1.1 million dollars to adapt its corporate offices in Mexico City that will operate under a hybrid work scheme. The teams will go to the office once every 15 days and will have the option of going an additional day. Duclos is confident that the new scheme will benefit the productivity, collaboration and quality of life of his more than 400 employees.
Journalist on economics and health issues
Health and Business
Communicator specialized in public health and the health industry. She is studying a master’s degree in Health Systems Administration at FCA of UNAM.
Founder in 2004 of www.Plenilunia.com, a concept on women’s health. I am passionate about researching and reporting on health, innovation, the industry related to science, and finding the objective business approach to each topic.