11th Triennial Conference Of Pacific Women

11th Triennial Conference Of Pacific Women

16-20 August 2010

Noumea, New Caledonia

Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, 19 August - There needs to be a bold new approach to women's health in the Pacific to tackle persistent problems of violence against women, poor maternal health and high rates of obesity and cancer, the Conference of Pacific Women in Noumea heard.

Some progress has been made in drawing leaders' attention to the need for action to eliminate violence against women, the meeting was told, with three national studies showing continuing high levels of such violence, including sexual violence.

Held once every three years, the conference at the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) called for a regional strategy on women's health to be tabled at the meeting of Pacific Health

Ministers next month. The strategy should then be endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, or for Fiji's support, by the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

In its final statement on Friday (20 August), the conference is expected to call for women's health to be given the priority, attention and resources needed to address major concerns relating to non-communicable diseases, cancer, violence, reproductive health, infectious diseases including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, and malaria.

Heading a panel on health, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reproductive health adviser, Dr Wame Baravilala, told the conference that women's access to health services in the Pacific was constrained by social-cultural issues.

Other panel members were Ethel Sigimanu (Solomon Islands), Vaine Wichman (Cook Islands), Edwina Kotoisuva (Fiji) and Rufina Latu Vanuatu).

Social-cultural issues included 'low personal health seeking behavior' y women, who put the health of their family first.

'The health system has a lot to be blamed for really,' Dr Baravilala said, adding that the quality of services was variable across the region and there was a lack of sex disaggregated data and information.

Seventy per cent of health budgets were being spent on curative care, and access to health services was affected by the location of services in towns, by high costs and poorly resourced screening services.

In particular, cancer prevention services (detection and management) in the Pacific Islands region were grossly inadequate, he said. Countries could not afford screening programmes for breast, cervical and ovarian cancers, and when discovered it was often too late - 'Most die,' he said.

All of this reflected the general low status of women in the Pacific, Dr Baravilala said.

On violence against women, three or four countries were showing interest in conducting studies similar to the recent national surveys in Kiribati and Solomon Islands. But violence against women was not being catered for by health services and there was low recognition of the problem.

'A lot of people find it very embarrassing,' he said.

Fiji's Edwina Kotoisuva stressed the point that health workers were the 'front line', often being the first point of contact for women who had experienced violence. Counseling sensitivity at this point was vital but this service was a weakness in the Pacific.

Dr Baravilala noted that while maternal and reproductive health had improved across the region, in some countries it was regressing. The Pacific had the highest rate in the world of chlamydia (an STI) for women under the age of 24 years - 40 per cent in one country, and 18 per cent on average among all women receiving antenatal care.

Members of the panel stressed that reproductive health and contraception went beyond the health sector to socio-cultural questions and male behavior. This was something Pacific Island countries and territories needed to urgently address.

Presumptive treatment for chlamydia (women and men take a one-dose antibiotic pill without prior testing) was now being recommended. In Vanuatu, this approach had reduced chlamydia prevalence by 50 per cent Dr Baravilala said.

Unplanned pregnancy was also a serious problem in the Pacific that needed to be discussed at a senior level, he said Non-communicable diseases have meanwhile reached epidemic proportions.

Obesity levels were increasing, often causing diabetes, which could require long-term, expensive treatment such as dialysis, but only some countries had the necessary equipment.

In American Samoa, for example, roughly half the population was diabetic and 30 per cent of the health budget was spent on dialysis.

'It's chronic, it doesn't go away, it causes major disabilities and it shortens lives.' 'If we want to do something about obesity in this part of the world, we really need to change the mindset of children. For us it's too late.'

SPC Healthy Lifestyle section head, Dr Viliami Puloka, said NCDs in the Pacific were of a tsunami magnitude, but unlike tsunamis, they were sticking around. He stressed that SPC's work with countries on addressing NCDs depended on women.

ENDS