Women and Health

The 45 CSW details are available from web site with the 2 themes. One is re Discrimination on race, gender and the other is HIV and AIDS in Women and Girls and EWD will be represented on some of the NGO panels to address the linkages and issues of widowhood in the context of HIV and AIDS.

WIDOWS' HEALTH IN TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES

A considerable body of research and anecdotal evidence reveals that, particularly in traditional cultures in developing countries, widows and their girl children are least likely, among all groups of women, to enjoy good physical or mental health due to a combination of cultural, economic and legal factors

The extreme discrimination and oppression experienced by widows resulting in increased morbidity and mortality has never been mentioned in either the PFA 1995 either beijin p for action nor thre nor the 1988 Commm status of women CSW. Nor has any specific reference been made to the wide spread gender-related violence suffered by this vast category of women within the family. This omission must be rectified and widows' health considered at the 1999 CSW.

Widows' low status, as compared with other women, has far-reaching negative consequences for their health. In addition to their poverty, landlessness, homelessness, malnutrition, they often endure physical violence, include sexual harassment and rape, verbal abuse,(such as accusations of witchcraft or immorality) leading to a serious deterioration of their health. Many widows commit suicide in their desperation.

Degrading and harmful mourning and burial rites can further damage their health, in particular in relation to their reproductive and sexual health. In the context of HIV/AIDS some practices pose the gravest health risks for widows and their children.

Actions:
Governments, in collaboration with NGOs, should focus on widows' health status and needs, conducting research and gathering testimonies from this most invisible and vulnerable category of women. They should also examine the consequences of their mothers' widowhood for the girl child, and the plight of child widows.

Governments, NGOs and Donor agencies should work to encourage health providers - PHC, MCH and FPAs - to design, in consultation with widows' groups, appropriate, accessible and innovative health services ( including reproductive health) for widows of all ages.

Governments and donors should support and fund social, economic, political and cultural research on how widowhood affects women's health and disseminate the findings.

Governments should collect information on traditional practices and attitudes, customary and religious laws (inheritance, land ownership, personal status) that determine widows' lives, and support NGOs and legal literacy programmes which can protect widows from infringements of their human rights to health and well-being.

Support should be given to the development and capacity of grass-roots and national organisations of widows who can be involved in empirical research leading to policies reflecting the changing realities of widows' lives.