* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Shelley Ross is secretary-general of the Medical Women's International Association. The opinions expressed are her own.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations (U.N.) has for its 2012 session chosen the theme: the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.
There is no bigger challenge for rural women than access to good quality healthcare. Without good health, it is difficult for women to provide food for their families, strengthen their work in agriculture or secure productive employment and income-generating opportunities.
When one thinks of rural women, it is natural to think of the developing countries where life is still basic and somewhat unbelievable to those of us in the developed world.
However, rural women in the developed world are also at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing health care, particularly close to home. Let me take two examples of obstetric care in the developing and developed world to illustrate this point.
The following example of obstetric care in the rural areas of the developing world is taken from the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) Manual on Gender Mainstreaming in Health (available online at www.mwia.net)
From the age of 12, Noura was no longer allowed to go to school but stayed home to look after her siblings and work in the rice field.
She was smaller then other girls her age because she acquired a parasitic infection from standing in the stagnant water of the rice field and was lacking in energy as this infection made her anemic.
Noura married too early at the age of 16 and soon became pregnant.
Due to her pre-existing poor health, she had a difficult pregnancy coupled with lack of care by a skilled attendant.
She hemorrhaged at birth and had to be transferred to the health centre but the family did not have the money to pay for the recommended blood transfusion.
So the family took her home in a weakened state to carry on unwell, weakened by pregnancy and hemorrhage, and unable to fulfill her potential.
You may find this second example of obstetric care surprising:
Where I live in the Canadian province of British Columbia, there is a crisis in delivering obstetric care for rural women.
Many of the smaller hospitals that delivered obstetric care no longer do so, due to a lack of operating room facilities and trained personnel needed in case of emergency Cesearean sections.
When the local doctor retired, I began caring for First Nations women from a small community in northern British Columbia, from which they travel 700 kilometers (435 miles) to access obstetric care.
In the last month of their pregnancy they have to come to Vancouver to stay until their baby is born. This is a financial and emotional hardship for them.
Often the families come with them, have to be accommodated and are unable to work while they sit around in Vancouver, waiting for labour.
After delivery, they travel back to their small town to be cared for by the physicians and other health care professionals in the community.
These two examples show that rural women have similar problems in accessing health care whether they are from a developed or developing country.
Congratulations to the CSW for showcasing rural women and empowering them to step forward to meet the Millennium Development Goal 1 -- one among a framework of global targets set in 2000 by the U.N. to be met by 2015 to try and alleviate poverty of eradicating poverty and hunger.
