Canadian women, particularly women in Canada's rural, remote, and northern communities, need better access to health care, a report from researchers into women's health says. Its message was reinforced by calls for better services from the new president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
Women living in Canada's rural regions find it hard to access health information and healthcare services, a recent study says. This large, qualitative, two year study done by four centres of excellence for women's health, found that Canada's current systems for health information are poorly coordinated and inadequately promoted. Health services in geographically isolated communities are often infrequent, irregular, and limited, it reports.
One in five Canadian women lives in a rural area. They are a diverse group that includes anglophone, francophone, Aboriginal, Mennonite, Hutterite, and immigrant women.
Women living in remote communities (more than 80 km from a major regional hospital) and isolated communities (more than 400 km or four hours' transport in good weather from a major regional hospital) have only limited or distant access to specialist resources and high technology healthcare facilities. Rural women have a higher risk of experiencing violence and of dying from motor vehicle crashes, poisoning, suicide, diabetes, and cancer.
Women in Canada's rural, remote, and northern areas often experience a triple disadvantage because of their gender, their location, and the interaction between the two, say the researchers. For women facing additional barriers of racism (such as Aboriginal women or immigrant women), economics, language, culture, or education, the negative health effects can be even greater.
Rural women tend to be rather “invisible” to health policy makers, who typically operate out of urban contexts, said lead author Margaret Haworth-Brockman, executive director of Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence. It's essential that rural and remote women are included in the decision making processes that affect their health, and the health of their families, she emphasised in a news release.
The urgent need to improve women's access to health care in Canada was highlighted by Dr Gerald W Stanimir, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, in his recent inaugural speech to the society. A lengthy therapeutic products approval process, in addition to longer than ever waiting lists, are injustices to women and can have considerable impacts on women's health, he believes.
“I am astounded that, when compared to other countries with similar socioeconomic status, the Canadian population—women in particular—have comparatively little access to newer technologies and medications,” says Dr Stanimir, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Montreal, Québec. “The society is deeply concerned by these issues and will continue to advocate for women's equitable access to reproductive health care throughout Canada.”
Canada's increasing demands for women's health services, combined with medical staffing issues, are predictors of a looming health crisis that will have a direct impact on the availability of medical care, he added. Final Summary Report of Rural, Remote and Northern Women's Health: Policy and Research Directions is accessible at www.cewh-cesf.ca/en/index.shtml