Women Health issues In a Seminar [Archives:2001/10/Health]

Belqis al-Lahabi
Al-Afif Girls Forum
Women health issues are of vital importance for a healthy family which in turn constitute the society at large. The second seminar organized by “al-Afif Girls Forum” and sponsored by the Afif Cultural Corporation focused on the issue of women health and the importance of their being aware of health issues. The discussion session was held in the headquarters of al-Afif Cultural Corporation and was attended by quite a good number of women and people interested in women issues.
Dr. Najeebah Abdullah Abdulghani, assistant teacher in the Medical and Health Sciences Faculty, Sana’a University, shed light on women health issues. She said “There are major common health issues concerning both men and women. There are also other issues concerning women alone such as reproduction. Therefore, the mother should be given access to intensive care during the period of her pregnancy and until she gives birth. If she is healthy, her baby would be healthy and vice versa. The man or the husband has an important role to play in women’s health as most women totally depend upon their husbands for their health expenses.
Health reproduction as defined in the Development and Housing International Conference, is “The overall physical, mental, social health.” It is not that there are no diseases reported on the part of the woman in the reproductive system and its functions. For instance, sterility may lead to many psychological and social problems.
Healthy reproduction includes a wide range of components. The first is secure maternity which involves care before childbirth, secure childbirth, care after childbirth and encouraging the mother to provide her child with natural suckling. The second is family planning. We should note the difference between family planning and production birth control. Family planning is to plan a healthy delivery for children ensuring their proper growth. Birth control is to put a limit to the number of children one has.
The third is the prevention and treatment from reproductive system inflammation which may be caused by the sexual contact. Healthy reproduction also includes sterility and abortion prevention. In the case of Yemeni women it is rare to find a woman who has not been aborted yet. Abortion may at times cause death. Healthy reproduction also includes the media health awareness promotion, especially in the sexual health.
The mother is not recommended to give birth to many babies but rather this should not be in a way that is detrimental to her health. This should not also affect bringing her children up. Speaking and raising the awareness of people to the importance of sexual health is not a shame. For the more the society is cultured in this aspect, the more it avoids illegal affairs and the fewer diseases are reported.
All have to know the components of reproductive system, how to deal with it and how to protect one’s self from the sexual diseases in case they exist. The more awareness and knowledge in this context, the less negative effects one may be prone to.
The objectives of healthy reproduction are as follows:
1) Have a secure and safe pregnancy, childbirth and puerperal stages.
2) Giving birth to a healthy infant.
3) Ability of the husband and wife to reproduce and organize that.
4) How to help the husband and wife reproduce at cases of sterility.
5) Protection of the wife and husband from infected diseases so no one infects the other.
6) Each side takes full responsibility in the sexual contact between the wife and husband.”
Dr. Najeebah also indicated the importance of documenting the mothers’ death cases and the diseases they are prone to so as to know the kind of problems that affect them. She said “In 1990, UNICEF conducted a statistical survey in Yemen for mothers who die during the childbirth. Statistics revealed that 1400 death cases are reported in every 100,000 childbirth. The percentage is quite high when compared to that in European countries where 27 death cases, Egypt 190 death cases were only reported. The survey stressed the high number of women giving births outside hospitals.”Dr. Najeebah also noted that educating men is not enough for maintaining women’s health issues. She said “Rather women have to know these things to protect themselves. 42% of women deaths during reproductive age, ranging between (15-49), are caused by their insecure pregnancy and childbirth. This obviously leads to many social problems. A survey conducted on the whole of Yemen revealed that only 34% of childbirths were conducted under the supervision of the specialist doctors during pregnancy. In most cases cleanness is a secondary issue during childbirth. If cleanness is given its due attention, secondary sterility prevalent in Yemen will reach to an end.
Women should also have some time after giving births to have rest for their bodies to recover their health and strength.”
Dr. Najeebah also concluded the seminar by talking about female genital mutilation and said “After many conferences and seminars the Health Ministry prohibited the circumcision of females and maintained this prohibition in all governmental health institutions. Studies show the spread of this practice in some regions including Hodeidah, Hadramout, al-Mahrah, Aden, in some villages in Taiz and in some areas such as Otmmah and al-Udain.”The seminar asserted the importance of women’s health. The most important two factors of which are education and economic situation which if women have fair access to, there will a remarkable improvement in their health.
The meeting was also enriched in many intercompositions on the parts of the audience who also forwarded questions on these vital issues.

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