The week following Mother’s Day (which is observed on the second Sunday of each May) is marked as Women’s Health Week as coordinated by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The aim of Women’s health week is to resolve women’s health issues and to empower women to make their own health a priority.
Making women’s health a priority
Each year the women’s health week has a theme and this year’s is “This Is Your Time” which tells women to make their own health a priority. Women need to maintain good health by eating healthy and exercising regularly, and also by going for regular health checkups.
Preventive health screening such as blood pressure checks, blood sugar checks, mammograms, pap smears etc are essential to detect problems in time and treat them before they cause irreversible damage.
This year women are being encouraged to prioritize their own health particularly to fight cancer.
According to some estimates, one in three women will get cancer in their lifetime and so this becomes particularly important to detect and arrest at an early stage.
The American Cancer Society urges women to eat right, remain active, give up smoking, cook healthy and set as well as track health goals.
Women tend to put themselves last, prioritizing the health of children and others in the family; even pets above their own.
So women’s health checkups often assume last priority. Women need to remember that prioritizing women’s health is good for children as well.
Women’s health is essential for strong healthy children and healthy communities.
Women’s health week checklist
The Women’s health week website offers a checklist of what women need to do for their own health:
- Women need to have preventing screenings in accordance with their individual risk factors
- Women need to get active and stay active.
- Women need to eat healthy and can find health recipes on the website.
- Women need to look after mental health by getting enough sleep and lowering stress.
- Women need to give up smoking and taking precautions such as using safety equipment.
The 14th of May is National Women’s Check Day. If you missed it, no problem, you can still visit your health provider for a checkup and an assessment of what screenings and checkups you need in particular. There is an interactive screening chart on the website that can help assess what screening is required at what age.
