Women’s equity and empowerment is one of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the SDG 5, and integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development.  Gender equality by 2030 requires urgent actions to eliminate the many root causes of discrimination – one of these being inequality of health especially in low- and middle-income countries and particularly in Africa.

While men and women in Africa are impacted by a range of health issues, the biological and socio-cultural bias means that women and girls are disproportionately affected by communicable diseases, such as the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD), schistosomiasis, and by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer. Issues including poor healthcare infrastructure, common misdiagnosis of disease in women, underfunding of research into woman’s health and social taboos around female fertility, have led to a huge increase in often preventable illness and death in those countries.

This acute inequality impacts millions of women and girls who are particularly vulnerable to some of the most devastating diseases.

Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) is the urogenital infection in women and girls by schistosome parasites and their eggs. FGS can impact on subfertility or cause infertility – leading to stigmatization and exclusion; it increases the transmission of HIV and the risk of cervical cancer through the persistence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the causing agent for cervical cancer.  

Many women and girls in Africa are very vulnerable to these diseases, which associated to low awareness in the population and to absent, poor or cumbersome diagnosis are often fatal.

In addition, these conditions can cause ectopic pregnancy and severe bleeding during delivery, risking women's lives and consequently impacting families and communities.

globalhealth@emdgroup.com