R4 Late Night Woman's Hour discussing the significant differences/failures between men & women's health care

According to the WHO European Region’s review of the social determinants of health, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot, men’s poorer survival rates “reflect several factors – greater levels of occupational exposure to physical and chemical hazards, behaviours associated with male norms of risk-taking and adventure, health behaviour paradigms related to masculinity and the fact that men are less likely to visit a doctor when they are ill and, when they see a doctor, are less likely to report on the symptoms of disease or illness”.3

These are all serious issues that need sustained focus and work (suggestion: men could take the lead on this, much as women have done a huge amount of the advocacy and campaigning work around many social issues for women?) but none of them are to do with research or health spending. That men have shorter life expectancies is a known fact, but it's also a known fact that women's bodies and health remain incredibly unresearched compared to men. Those facts don't cancel each other out: they both need work. This thread is about the latter.

MeAgainAgain - I have no idea why that was the case. Nor do want to make uninformed comments about why it might be the case. But the OP and others seem to be highlighting a case of a single drug as evidence that there is a more sinister/widespread objective of depriving women of fair and equitable access to healthcare. The WHO study seems to contradict that with studies from multiple bodies around the world. I'd like to know what your opinion is on that.

No comment on the fact that studies showed viagra to have multiple possible benefits and the erection thing was pursued while period pain thing was dropped?

www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/8/13-132795/en/

'In most parts of the world, health outcomes among boys and men continue to be substantially worse than among girls and women...'

'That men tend to be in worse health than women has now been made clear by robust evidence from various sources. The Global Burden of Disease study led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in 2010 (GBD 2010 study) showed that throughout the period from 1970 to 2010, women had a longer life expectancy than men. Over that 40-year period, female life expectancy at birth increased from 61.2 to 73.3 years, whereas male life expectancy rose from 56.4 to 67.5 years. These figures indicate that the gap in life expectancy at birth widened between the sexes to men’s disadvantage over those 40 years.'

But men blah blah blah...

I keep meaning to listen to LNWH - is it good? I love the daytime one, particularly if Jane is on.

oh wow. I wish I was surprised. I have been learning a little about the differences in women's and mens health care over the last few years, diff in medical research and testing etc and it is just incredible yet again how women get less than men. Thanks for alerting us to this little known fact