Saturday, 8 March 2014, marks the International Women’s Day. The EFN, representing over 3 million nurses of which 95% are women, celebrates this important day by developing EU policies that are gender sensitive. The EU institutions should have more women in leadership positions and therefore, the upcoming European Parliamentary elections are key to vote for women. In order to design adequate policies for health and healthcare it is necessary to have the direct contribution of women as politicians.
In this context, the EFN supports the European Institute of Women´s Health (EIWH) and the International Diabetes Federation – Europe in their call to reflect on the global impact on diabetes and specifically on women. Many women face serious obstacles when accessing diabetes prevention, diagnosis and care. Women are more exposed to the main risk factors of diabetes including poor diet and lack of physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. Having more women in the decision making process would be a driver to ensure that more attention is given to these issues.
As a practical example, the EFN is coordinating the EU project ENS4Care, of which EIWH is a partner and that is led by women. This project looks into eHealth developments that are supporting health promotion and disease prevention, among other areas. Bringing up good practices on health promotion and prevention supported by ICT will have a potential in increasing accessibility to diabetes prevention, putting at women´s disposal all necessary tools to have a better control of their lifestyles.
Investing in women’s health and in disease prevention is the best investment society can make with a high return!
More information:
– European Institute of Women´s Health