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Women's Health Statistics Show We Have A Long Way To Go

Women's Health Statistics Show We Have A Long Way To Go

- As we enter March, which marks endometriosis awareness month, it’s worth noting that not only is endometriosis woefully under-funded, most areas of women’s healthcare are still incredibly behind in research, diagnosis and treatment. The thing is, once you realise the inequality and how many women are needlessly suffering, it’s hard to stop seeing it absolutely everywhere. It’s frustrating, to say the least. For example, did you know that there’s more research on marathon running than there is on giving birth? Writing for The Conversation , Anastasia Topalidou, an Associate Professor in Perinatal Biomechanics and Health Technologies at the University of Lancashire said: “Labour is one of the most physically demanding processes the human body experiences. It involves coordinated muscle activity, shifting pressure through the pelvis and spine, and joints adapting under intense physiological stress. “Yet there are currently no studies directly measuring how labour positions, movement, hands-on techniques and physical forces affect the mother and baby in real time during active labour. “As a result, many positioning strategies are based largely on tradition and accumulated clinical experience rather than direct measurement.” This is sadly barely scratching the surface of women’s healthcare downfalls According to the World Health Organization , 70% of people with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) do not know that they have the condition. PCOS causes heavy bleeding, fertility issues and thinning hair, just to name a few symptoms and it affects 10-13% of women worldwide. If this isn’t maddening enough, even just looking into consumer menstrual health care, the first time human blood was ever used to test the absorbency of menstrual products was in... 2023. As we explained at the time : “Until now, researchers have used saline water or even just water to test the efficacy of period products which means people may not have an entirely accurate idea of whether their periods are heavy or not. “This is because menstrual blood contains not only blood cells but secretions and tissues from endometrial lining ― unlike water or its saline counterpart.” People with menstrual health problems are no strangers to being dismissed so perhaps to them, these statistics aren’t as shocking as they ought to be but when you consider that women in Europe spend 25% more of their lives in pain than men , it’s fair to say this is something we should be keeping at the forefront of conversations about inequality. It’s worse for women who aren’t white In a government-commisioned review into maternity care services in England, it has been revealed that Black and Asian women face further discrimination during what is already an incredibly vulnerable time in their lives. Speaking to BBC Breakfast , Baroness Amos who is leading the investigation said: “We have heard about stereotypes being used in maternity and neonatal services... This includes accounts of Asian women being stereotyped as ‘princesses’, with the implication that they are overly demanding or unable to cope with pain. “Black women described experiences of being deemed as having “tough skin” and ‘able to tolerate pain’.” The report also revealed that Muslim families described feeling discriminated against on the basis of their religion and feeling unable to raise concerns due to fear that discriminatory attitudes may result in poor treatment for their baby. Outwith maternity care, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reported in January that Black women are more likely to develop uterine fibroids, experience more severe symptoms, and face longer delays in diagnosis and treatment. Left untreated, uterine fibroids can lead to symptoms such as bowel or bladder dysfunction, excessive fatigue and pain during sex, just to name a few symptoms. If you are affected by any of the conditions mentioned, NHS surgeon Dr Karan Rajan has shared a guide to advocating for yourself in women’s healthcare. Help and support: Mind , open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393 . Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill). CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58 , and a webchat service . The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org . Related... I'm A Surgeon – 5 Ways To Advocate For Yourself If You Feel Ignored By Doctors Heavy Periods Are Far More Common Than We Thought Today In Stupid: Doctors Have No Clue What 'Heavy Bleeding' Actually Looks Like

Becoming George by Fiona Sampson review – the remarkable story of a cross-dressing 19th century novelist

Becoming George by Fiona Sampson review – the remarkable story of a cross-dressing 19th century novelist

A reappraisal of one of literature’s most sensational personalities, the author of more than 70 books If we really are in a reading crisis – whether you blame TikTok or podcasts – it stands to reason that, of all the genres, literary biography might have particular cause to fear for its life: who wants the life story of somebody whose books no one reads? Such anxiety, justified or not, can be heard jangling away in the background amid some of the noisier claims made by Fiona Sampson at the start of her new biography of the pseudonymous 19th-century author George Sand, “one of the most famous writers in the world, at a time when books had something of the glamour that would later surround, say, Hollywood movies”. Best known for the 1832 novel Indiana, whose eponymous young heroine walks out on a loveless age-gap marriage, Sand’s life “reveals … the nature of all lives as self-invention”, not least because she scandalously wore trousers: “by suiting up as a garçon she was, criss-cross, acknowledging that to be a writing woman is a little off-centre: is queer,” writes Sampson, calling Sand “one of the boldest precursors of that perhaps final hope modernity holds out: that we might choose what we become”. Continue reading...

‘You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation’: Ruth E Carter on building the bold world of Sinners

‘You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation’: Ruth E Carter on building the bold world of Sinners

The two-time Oscar winner on dressing Michael B Jordan’s twin antiheroes, her start with Spike Lee and crafting the period detail of Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending epic Ruth E Carter’s costumes were a crucial part of establishing the identities of the two identical twins, both played by Michael B Jordan, in multi-Oscar-nominated Sinners. Particularly the hats. One brother, Stack, wore a red fedora. The other brother, Smoke, wore a blue newsboy flat cap. Finding the hats was a critical moment in the film’s backstory. When director Ryan Coogler first saw Jordan try on Stack’s red fedora, bought by Carter in Los Angeles’s Melrose Avenue, “he was like – that’s it. Then he goes up into the rest of the office, and people are coming down, like, ‘Ryan’s talking upstairs about a red hat?’ You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation.” This is just a small example of the canny period world-building that has made Carter the most-garlanded Black woman in Oscars history, and the owner of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (her family were in attendance, she says, of its Covid-era unveiling, while Oprah and Eddie Murphy dialled in via Zoom). Her work on Coogler’s genre-squashing, Jim Crow-era drama, which has gained a record-breaking 16 Oscar nods, has landed a fifth nomination for the two-time Oscar winner (she is, according to a poll by Variety, a favourite in the category). Among her starry upcoming projects: a biopic of the pioneering Black fashion designer, Ann Lowe – designer of Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress – which she will produce alongside Serena Williams. Continue reading...

Photophobia review – down in the Kharkiv rail tunnels with a 12-year-old as the bloodshed rages overhead

Photophobia review – down in the Kharkiv rail tunnels with a 12-year-old as the bloodshed rages overhead

Warmly observed documentary follows Nikita, confined with thousands of others to the Ukrainian city’s metro as war goes on above ground While war rages on, hope continues to take root underground in Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík’s moving documentary. Shot in the Kharkiv metro in Ukraine, the film follows Nikita, a spirited 12-year-old, during his daily routines in what has become a cavernous bomb shelter. Seeking refuge from the endless bombing and shelling, thousands call the metro their new home, bringing with them the barest of necessities. Lit by stark fluorescent lights, this subterranean hideout has no sunlight, yet it glows with the warmth of camaraderie and community. Often at Nikita’s eye level, the camera observes the metro through his gaze. An air of precariousness and danger hangs in the air, as the inhabitants speak of food scarcity, illnesses caused by prolonged confinement and the bloodshed that occurs just above ground. With its echoing tunnels, abandoned carriages and wartime messages blasting through intercom speakers, the metro resembles a sci-fi dystopia; like Nikita, however, Photophobia searches for small joys in times of darkness. Though both have experienced unimaginable loss and trauma, Nikita and his new friend Vika make up their own adventures and in these moments of play are allowed to be children again. Continue reading...