Women’s Health Care in Canada

Women’s health experiences are personal. I have required and received health care since the moment I was born via c-section.  I had my tonsils out at six.  I was told I miscarried, only to be told weeks later I was still pregnant with a healthy baby on the way.  I supported my mom through cancer treatment; lung cancer that was originally misdiagnosed as depression. These are my stories, but everyone has their own which is why I am passionate about advocating for a health eco-system that can support all Canadians – include the almost 51% who are women.

Everyone expects that a health care professional is trained to support your health care needs and armed with the tools necessary to address the health care challenge before you.  This is not the case for women’s health care. Canada has not updated its national strategy since 1999. The world has changed significantly without the research and investment into women’s health care necessary.

Health systems across the country – and the globe – are actively innovating.  How can health systems deliver services more efficiently and more effectively?  How can the finite number of health human resources support a population dispersed across such vast landscapes?  How can health care providers be unburdened of administrative tasks such that expertise can be applied where it is needed most? All good questions.  But without foundational research and evidence to inform how those decisions will impact women’s health, women will only fall further behind – their health and their economic wellbeing.

Solutions to these challenges and coinciding impacts are laid out for policy makers.  In the last 6 months alone, reports have highlighted the gaps in women’s health care, the solutions and the benefits that will be reaped upon implementation.  Fortunately, not only do the reports identify the challenges facing women seeking health care, many highlight the solutions. And the evidence and impacts illustrate that supporting women’s health care is beyond a health conversation. Deloitte’s report, The Case for Advancing Women’s Health in Canada, cites the World Economic Forum notes that “women’s health investments generate transformative health gains and represent one of the highest-return opportunities for safeguarding lives and livelihoods”. In fact, their data demonstrates that for every 1-dollar USD invested in women’s health there is a 3-dollar USD return on investment.

Despite slow progress, there have been many success stories for women’s health:

• The Alberta government invested $20 million into women’s health initiatives; a tangible first step toward removing gender disparity in healthcare practice, policy, research, and care.
• Western Canada’s first menopause clinic was opened in Vancouver last summer, building on work the B.C. government is doing to support women through menopause. Additionally, next month, B.C. will enhance menopause care by providing free public coverage of hormone replacement therapy to treat menopausal symptoms.
• Increased access to various diagnostic solutions and accompanying treatment options.

 

Success happens when women-focused leaders and experts come together to identify how collaborative power can be harnessed for greater impacts on women in local health eco-systems.  Of the successful outcomes I have had the opportunity to support, it has been critical to consider the broader political landscape – the priorities, the competing demands, the fiscal environment and  timing.

The decision to accelerate women’s health initiatives to bridge the gap is not about women’s health for women’s sake.  It is however women’s health for Canada’s sake, because when women’s health improves, the entire country advances from a health, workforce and economic perspective. And I am really looking forward to carrying this message forward to Ottawa.