Essay Sample on Gender Influence on Health

Introduction

Gender is an aspect that explains the sex category of an individual, whether a man or a woman. Irrespective of affecting many different points in people's lives in society, gender is impacting on the health of men and women. Gender is a defining factor inequality that exists between men and women. According to Matthews (2015), women tend to have lower mortality rates when compared to men. They also have a longer life expectancy as well as higher morbidity their health statistics are overrepresented. It means that men die fast when compared to women, while women have a higher risk of being sick when compared to men.

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Gender and Its Influence on Health in Botswana

Women have longer life expectancy than men in Botswana: Botswana is an upper-middle-income country. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (n.d), women have a longer life expectancy in Botswana when compared to men. Women in Botswana live for over 80 years, and the number of those who are living today when compared to men is high. When compared to males, above 50 years of age are 54.2%, and the remainder is men (WHO, n.d). It shows that women live longer when compared to men. According to Anadale (2014), the biology of both genders influences their health. The current health inequalities among men and women are attributable to the biological making of sexes and how society shapes people's lives.

Women have a lower mortality rate than men in Botswana: Women have lower mortality rates when compared to men in Botswana. In a World Mortality Report compiled by the United Nations (2015), the life expectancy at birth for women was 59% and that of men 55% in Botswana. In the previous five decades, the average life expectancy at birth for women was 45.8% and men 43.6%. The data shows that there is an increase in life expectancy for both genders at birth. However, life expectancy at birth for men remains lower when compared to that of women. The information indicates that women have lower mortality rates when compared to men. The under-five mortality for men was 45% while women were 35% in 2015. The infant mortality rate for males was 37%, and females were 28%. The probability of dying for men between 15 and 60 years for men was 346 and women 260 (United Nations, 2015).

Women have higher morbidity than men: In Botswana, the percentage of women receiving healthcare is more when compared to that of men. For instance, in the year 2017, an HTC intervention in Botswana recorded 85% of women treated and only 50% of men to have taken the treatment (Sharma, Barnabas, & Celum, 2017). However, when looking at the aspect of the over-representation of women in health statistics, it is evident that men are not available when the treatments are provided. Sharma et al. (2017) stated that men did not take part in the HIV testing and counseling (HTC) intervention because of work and women were available at home to receive the HTC trial. Overrepresentation of women in health statistics is true since men who were contacted for the HTC trial had similar acceptance rates to women. Therefore, when evaluating morbidity between men and women, it is necessary to examine the availability of both genders during the corrective exercise. Better methods need to be used to reach all men who need healthcare. Further, more men need to be contacted when carrying out health surveys to avoid over-representing women health statistics in Botswana.

Comparing Results with Ethiopia

Botswana and Ethiopia have similarities and differences when reflecting on the subject of gender influence on health. While Ethiopia is a lower-income country, Botswana is an upper-middle-income nation. However, gender influence on health hits the two countries the same. The findings show that women in Ethiopia and Botswana have a longer life expectancy. However, the rates of morbidity for both men and women in Ethiopia are the same. As stated by the main character in Verghese (2010) book "Cutting for Stone," patients in Ethiopia assume all types of illnesses are fatal, and death is anticipated. Verghese (2010) ignores the aspect of gender when discussion health status in Ethiopia.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gender influence on health is evident in Botswana. The research results confirm the assertions of Matthews (2015) that "women have lower mortality rates than men, longer life expectancy, more significant morbidity and overrepresentation in health statistics. Through the use of statistics from reports and country data, it is evident that women in Botswana are over-represented when talking about health statistics. The aspect of morbidity explains the over-representation of women health statistics. The findings of Botswana are comparable to those of women in a lower-income country such as Ethiopia whereby the situation of health is worse.

References

Annandale, E. (2014). The Sociology of Health and Medicine: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Matthews, D. (2015). Sociology in nursing 3: how gender influences health inequalities. Nursing Times; 111, 43, 21-23.

Sharma, M., Barnabas, R., Celum, C. (2017). Community-based strategies to strengthen men's engagement in the HIV care cascade in sub-Saharan Africa. PLoSMed, 14(4), e1002262.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002262

United Nations. (2015). World mortality report. Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/mortality/WMR2015/WMR2015.pdf

Verghese, A. (2010). Cutting for stone. Vintage Books. ISBN-10:0375714367

WHO. (n.d). Older population and health system: A profile of Botswana. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/ageing/projects/intra/phase_one/alc_intra1_cp_botswana.pdf