Women Bear Burden of Home Care
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr040308.htm

 Washington, DC, March 8, 2004 (PAHO);

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Monday marked
Women's International Day by noting that women overwhelmingly
bear the brunt of home health care in the Americas.

 "An estimated 80 percent health care is provided in the home, basically by
women,"
  said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago in a
  statement delivered from Nicaragua, where she is
  on an official visit.

  "The time that women invest in caring for others
  reduces their potential to develop their human
  capital. Assuming that providing family health care
  does not have personal, family, and social
  consequences is unfair, unrealistic, and dangerous
  for health policy."

 What would happen, she asked, "if all the women of the world decided to go
on strike
 and for just one day refused to provide health care in their homes and
communities?
 What would be the catastrophic implications for global well-being?"

 Roses addressed a panel presentation at PAHO's Washington, D.C.,
headquarters, on
 the topic of women's unpaid labor in the health sector. She spoke from
Nicaragua,
 sitting next to Nicaraguan Health Minister Jose Antonio Alvarado who said
that
 women and their role in that country's health and other policies would
have a key role
 in the drafting of a new national health plan, now underway.

 The panel -- chaired by Dr. Elsa Gomez, Unit Chief PAHO's Gender and
Health office
 - also included Pat Armstrong, professor of the Department of Sociology of
Canada's
 York University. "Care work is women's work. Paid and unpaid, located at
home, in
 voluntary organizations or in the labor force, the overwhelming majority
of care is
 provided by women," Armstrong told the panel. "It is often invisible,
usually accorded
 little value and only sometime recognize as skilled."

 "Unpaid care constitutes an underground economy," she added.

 Armstrong concluded that by "making care visible and beginning by making
it the
 objective, we can then work towards solutions that give as many people as
possible
 the right to care. Care is the objective, not the problem."

 In most Latin American and Caribbean nations between 50 percent and 75
percent of
 health workers are women.

 Ruben Suarez Berenguela, an expert with PAHO's Health Policies and Systems
Unit,
 said that this unpaid work must be taken into account. "All economic
indicators refer to
 households as consumers, but one has to think of households as producers
of families'
 well-being and human development," he said.

 The audience also heard from Felix Rigoli, of PAHO's Human Resources
 Development Unit, and Maria Rosa Renzi, of the Economics Unit of UNDP.

 The panelists all noted there are a number of steps that have to be taken
to alleviate
 this burden on many women. They include increasing the support to
community
 programs and local health centers so they can assume a larger share of the
health care
 burden; considering government tax relief for families or persons who have
significant
 health care responsibility; and analyzing the impact of health care
reforms on home
 care.

 "We need to shine a spotlight on unremunerated health care, to lift the
veil of invisibility,
 to make it part of health policy," Dr. Roses said. "Let us open the doors
to reveal and
 understand the invisible work of women in health care, changing our course
toward
 care for all and with all as a shared, equitable, and sustainable social
responsibility."

 PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health
organization.
 PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health
and the
 quality of life of people of the Americas. It serves as the Regional
Office for the
 Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO). PAHO Member States today
 include all 35 countries in the Americas. France, the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, and
 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are Participating
States.
 Portugal and Spain are Observer States, and Puerto Rico is an Associate
Member.

 For more information, video material, or photographs please contact:
Daniel Epstein, Office of Public
 Information, (202) 974-3459, e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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