International Women’s Day

Gender Equality is a human right not a female right
– Freida Pinto

Undeniably, to ensure that women and girls enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men and boys is an equal act from a moral and ethical standpoint. The huge price paid for depriving the female gender of fair rights and opportunities are borne but by their families, communities, and the entire economy. It has an economic impact – $160 trillion worth, to be precise.

One such right which is integral to existence, survival is the right to health. “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition”.  The right to health has been central to WHO’s identity and mandate. According to the WHO, issues such as cancer (breast and cervical, largely), reproductive health, mental health, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, violence against women, and non-communicable diseases continue to be global health issues being faced by women which need to be addressed urgently.

From rural initiatives to international campaigns, the fight for equal future extends relentlessly. International Women’s Day (March 8) commemorates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. However, in India too the public healthcare system continues to have a fractured view of women’s healthcare needs. India tops the list of countries to have witnessed the highest mortality rates during delivery and even the highest number of non-school going girls. 25% of the total number of girls born in India don’t live to see their 15th Birthday. 40% of the HIV cases in India in 2005 are said to be that of women.

A deeper investigation in the rural and tribal regions has been able to identify the missing links in the healthcare services for women, such as the absence of care for gynaecological problems, reproductive tract infections and STDs; absence of adolescent sex-education; lack of access to safe and low-cost, easily available abortion services; lack of access to contraception products. Women’s reproductive health is the most neglected in Indian society. Gynaecological problems — issues related to antenatal care, pregnancy and childbirth — constitute 92% of the unmet needs of rural Indian women, accounting for nine out of every 10 medical cases. The lack of trained staff at the primary health centres (PHCs) denotes that the woman receives no maternal care during and after delivery. Our understanding of maternal care must include issues such as post-natal depression, which is very basic but rarely discussed. Our health institutions also need to support women affected by infertility.

Our vast experience at DSS allows us to offer various knowledge based pathological solutions to Indian women. CervSURE by DSS is built with the aim of becoming a stepping stone to eradicate HPV from India. Through CervSURE we recommend our HPV DNA Specimen Transporter Kit and HPV DNA Screening Kit. Further, for simultaneous detection and genotyping of HPV, Master Diagnostica’s HPV direct flow chip comes to the rescue. In addition, we even have Viral Load detection kits from Abbott Molecular for HIV-1 & Hepatitis (HBV & HCV) as well as Early Infant Diagnosis kit for HIV-1 to help the doctors.

Using FISH (Fluorescence in situ Hybridization) technology from Abbott Molecular (Vysis) allows quicker and accurate detection of breast cancer, supported by the FISH probe – PathVysion (one of the flagship product from Vysis). In addition, Entrogen’s BRCA/PIK3CA Mutation Analysis Kit for Real-Time PCR and for fine deletion we offer SALSA MLPA P002 BRCA1 probemix which is an MLPA probe from MRC Holland. With the help of advanced technology in tissue level analysis, we can know the tissue distribution of an antigen of interest in health and disease. So the antibodies Agilent(Dako) purvey for Breast Cancer -ER/PR-Her2; Cervical Cancer-ER-P53 markers, Embryonic Carcinoma-CEA, Ovarian Cancer-Beta-HCG,WT1.

References:

• World Economic Forum
• World Health Organization
• HuffPost