The WHO released a new report: Women and health: today’s evidence tomorrow’s agenda. The foreword of the 111-page report is written by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan as below:

Foreword

When I took office in 2007, I asked that my performance be judged by results as measured by the health of women and of the people of Africa. My commitment to these populations is a reaffirmation of WHO’s long history of reaching out to those in greatest need and to redressing health inequalities and their determinants.

The Millennium Development Goals and other global commitments have focused primarily on the entitlements and needs of women. The current financial crisis and economic downturn make this focus even more urgent; protecting and promoting the health of women is crucial to health and development – not only for the citizens of today but also for those of future generations.

This report reviews evidence on the health issues that particularly affect girls and women throughout their life course. Despite considerable progress over the past two decades, societies are still failing women at key moments in their lives. These failures are most acute in poor countries, and among the poorest women in all countries. Not everyone has benefited equally from recent progress and too many girls and women are still unable to reach their full potential because of persistent health, social and gender inequalities and health system inadequacies.

This report does not offer a comprehensive analysis of the state of women and health in the world. The data and evidence that are available are too patchy and incomplete for this to be possible. Indeed, one of the striking findings of the report is the paucity of statistics on key health issues that affect girls and women. But the report does bring together what is currently known and identifies areas where new data need to be generated, available data compiled and analysed, and research undertaken to fill critical gaps in the evidence base.

In presenting this report, it is my hope that it will serve to stimulate policy dialogue at

country, regional and global levels, to inform actions by countries, agencies, and development partners, and to draw attention to innovative strategies that will lead to real improvements in the health and lives of girls and women around the world.

There is a single instance of the “vaccine” in the report. The passage in which it occurs follow: “Cervical cancer is globally the second most common type of cancer among women and virtually all cases are linked to genital infection with HPV. There were more than 500 000 new cases of cervical cancer and 250 000 deaths from it worldwide in 2005. Almost 80% of cases today occur in low-income countries, where access to cervical cancer screening and prevention services is almost non-existent. A highly effective vaccine against HPV is now available but cost and accessibility limit its use in less developed countries. Cervical cancer can also be prevented through regular screening coupled with treatment, but this is rarely available in most developing countries.

http://www.gavialliance.org/resources/Womenandhealthreport.pdf