Empowering women essential for improved climate response

15/03/2022 0 Comments read Environment & Development, Gender

A girl making the Cambodian bamboo sticky rice with black beans in Battambang Province. Enabling women to participate in environmental decision-making is key to building a sustainable future for all. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.03.2022 (SciDev.Net): Women possess essential knowledge and skills, particularly at the local level, in the conservation and management of natural resources but have limited say in environmental decision-making, according to a report by UN Women Asia and the Pacific.

The report was published ahead of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women which is focusing on achieving gender equality in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. It says engaging women in these areas is critical to effective climate action.

“Women’s relationship to the environment is different to men’s in several complex but interlocking ways,” says Sarah Knibbs, officer-in-charge at UN Women Asia and the Pacific. “They are more exposed to some of the risks and also have a unique contribution to make to the solutions.”

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Access to reproductive healthcare must to sustain development in Senegal

14/07/2020 0 Comments read Gender, Health & Science

Photo Credit: © Réseau Siggil Jigéen

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 14.07.2020 (IPS): Pregnant with her second child, 30-year-old Ndiabou Niang was enduring pelvic pain, but couldn’t afford to access prenatal care in Diabe Salla, a village on the outskirts of the small town of Thilogne in north-east Senegal. Her husband was unemployed and her earnings of under CFAF 10,000 (17 USD) from selling seasonal fruits in the local market were insufficient to make ends meet.

Duing her last prenatal visit, she was prescribed some tests, an ultrasound and some medicines that would cost CFAF 39,000 (USD 67). But as the amount needed was astronomical for her meagre income, she silently suffered. Many pregnant rural women, living below poverty line, don’t follow through on the prescription and delay their prenatal visit till they are in their third trimester, which puts them at greater risk of pregnancy-related complications. Continue reading →

Healthcare eludes poorer women in rural Asia Pacific

21/12/2018 0 Comments read Gender, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 21.12.2018 (SciDev.Net): Rural women in low-income households cannot access healthcare services due to distance and financial reasons. However, overall, healthcare access has improved in 27 countries of the Asia Pacific region over the past decade, says a new joint report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Health at a Glance Asia-Pacific 2018 notes that in Nepal and the Solomon Islands, about three in four women with the lowest household income reported difficulties in accessing healthcare due to financial reasons; two in three reported having unmet care needs due to distance.

The report highlights that achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is based on the “leave no one behind” premise.

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