Vienna Medical Association on International Women’s Day: Finally close the gender health gap! – 2024-03-08 11:12:46

President Steinhart and Vice Presidents Haninger-Vacariu and Kamaleyan-Schmied are calling for a rapid paradigm shift in research and medicine

Vienna (OTS) – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Vienna Medical Association draws attention to the alarming gender health gap: “The imbalance in the medical treatment of women compared to men is still a reality. As representatives of the medical profession, we would like to raise awareness of this important topic. A crucial lever for a paradigm shift is a growing proportion of women in medicine and research, both in leadership positions and in general. “In our own sphere of activity, we are doing everything we can to achieve this with mentoring programs and initiatives such as our department for women’s policy, gender and diversity,” says Johannes Steinhart, President of the Vienna and Austrian Medical Associations.

You have to start during the training: “More attention is needed to the unequal medical treatment of women and men. This begins in medical teaching, where this topic is still greatly underrepresented. Although there have recently been more efforts to take this issue into account better, a lot still needs to change here,” says Natalja Haninger-Vacariu, first vice president and chair of the curia of the employed doctors of the Vienna Medical Association.

Women around the world live longer than men, but at the same time they are healthy for a significantly shorter period of time. In Austria, according to the women’s health report, the numbers are somewhat less drastic compared to international standards, but the difference is still large.

According to MedUni Vienna, the main causes of death for women in Austria are, with over a third, diseases of the cardiovascular system. The sad leader here is the heart attack, which is generally considered a typical men’s disease: “Many renowned studies clearly show that women have different symptoms or react differently to medication than men when it comes to health problems such as heart attacks. “But diagnostics and medication are aimed at men and are still based on the average male type,” criticizes Naghme Kamaleyan-SchmiedVice President and Chair of the Curia of the Resident Doctors of the Medical Association for Vienna.

Although recent scientific studies are increasingly taking gender differences into account and examining them, there is still a huge gender data gap: “Women with rare diseases are more often misdiagnosed and therefore have a much longer time period before a diagnosis is made than men. A large number of further gender-specific studies are needed to close the gender data gap and the associated gender health gap,” says Natalja Haninger-Vacariu.

Many illnesses such as thyroid diseases or iron deficiency, which more often affect women, tend to be neglected in Austria: “Gender medicine and women’s health must finally take on a higher priority in our health system. Urgent improvements are needed in the care of pregnant women in private practice. An effective measure would be a rapid upgrade of parent-child passport examinations and gynecology. “In addition, more contact points, for example in cases of domestic violence, and psychosocial facilities for women must be created,” says general practitioner Kamaleyan-Schmied.

“An additional focus must also be on internal pregnancy support and care. An optimized setting in prepregnancy counseling could have a very significant impact on women’s health,” adds internist Haninger-Vacariu.

Medical Association President Steinhart and the two vice presidents are calling for a rethink in order to sustainably improve the health situation of women and are appealing to politicians: “A rapid paradigm shift in research and medicine is needed. Gender-specific aspects must finally be given greater consideration and support in training, basic research and care. This is the only way to close the gender health gap.”

Questions & Contact:

Adrian Hinterreither, Bakk. Phil.
0664-9619179
hinterreither@aekwien.at