Women’s Health Surest Road To Quality Of Life For All

“Investment in women’s health is the best value investment any government can make in its society’s welfare,” Alliance health spokesperson Phillida Bunkle said today.

Speaking from the World Health Organisation’s Second International Meeting on Women and Health: “Maximising Women’s Capacities and Leadership” in Canberra, Phillida Bunkle said the Government must put right the terrible legacy of disorganisation in women’s health and spend more on women’s public health initiatives.

Phillida Bunkle said she was honoured to have been invited to the meeting, which delegates had given the theme of ‘Women’s health – the surest road to quality of life for all’, as it was very relevant to recent experiences in New Zealand.

“Until we fix National’s legacy of disorganisation in basic programmes that have shown up in places like Wanganui, National Women’s, Northland and Gisborne we will not be able to rebuild the public health sector.

“Key weaknesses have shown up unacceptable failures in the management of Hepatitis C, cervical and breast screening, galloping infection rates of sexually transmitted diseases with all their tragic consequences of infertility.

“While this terrible legacy is shown up in the incapacity to take care of our tiniest babies, addressing the crumbling infrastructure in women’s health must be a top priority if we are to climb back to a first world public health service.”

“The shocking inadequacies in the treatment of women patients discussed by the conference are comparable to those in the system documented in the Cull Report. After listening to world experts for three days I believe the best place to start is the immediate implentation of the recommendations of the Cull Report that were first recommended by Cartwright thirteen years ago,” said Phillida Bunkle.

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