Reaching women with information about their health.

Abstract

In many countries women have a wealth of knowledge about how to prevent and cure disease, including the use of plants and herbs. Yet they often have little information about things that put their health at risk. A new 48-page booklet provides a step-by-step guide to developing health materials for women. "Towards the healthy women counselling guide" contains ideas from WHO's Gender and Health Research Group. The guide explains why it is important to reach women with health information. It cites examples from Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria to show how gender relations affect women's health, why women ignore their health, what they do when they are sick, where they get health information from, and how local norms define what is healthy for a woman.