Women and global health: a personal view.

Women have been recognised as playing a central role in global health over millennia. Hygieia in both Greek and Roman mythology was the goddess of good health, cleanliness and sanitation, and her sisters Panacea, Acesco and Laso were goddesses of remedy, healing and recuperation, respectively. Florence Nightingale became a cult figure during the Crimean War and was a key figure in social reforms designed to improve health care across all levels of society. She is credited as the founder of modern nursing. More recently, a few women have made it to the top in global health, e.g. at international level Gro Harlem Bruntland and now Margaret Chan as Directors General of WHO, and at national level Dame Sally Davies as Chief Medical Officer of the UK (I was the Australian equivalent in the late nineties).