Recently a new International Day of Action for Women’s Healthand in this context it is important, precisely, to understand women’s perceptions of public health in Chile.
He Chile Regional Governance Index (IGRC), prepared with 4,000 surveys applied to people in 16 regions for him Millennium Nucleus for the Comprehensive Development of Territories (CEDIT), allows us to analyze gender differences in the perception of different public services, including public health.
Surveys show that Women have a worse perception of the quality of public health than menboth nationally and in most regions, except for the Los Lagos regionwhere the perception is much more positive among women than men.
Given this first result, the question arises Why do women, when faced with the same service, perceive the quality of public health less favorably than men?
A first answer is connected to the extensive scientific literature on care: health has always been a pillar of personal and family well-being, and Women have historically played and continue to play a crucial role in taking on greater physical and emotional responsibility. to guarantee the care and good health of household members.
Therefore, its connection with public health, especially for those who are recurring users of public services (such as patients or companions of FONASA), is narrow, which intensifies their scrutiny of the procedures in which they participate, from the waits inside the facilities to the care received.
Furthermore, the survey shows that Women tend to perceive unequal treatment in public health facilities more frequently. Also in this case, the scientific literature gives us clues to understand this result. International evidence shows that there are significant gender biases in health carewhich have profound effects on women’s quality of life and well-being.
These biases frequently lead to underestimation of the symptoms and pain reported by women compared to those of men, generating everything from errors in diagnoses and delays in the adoption of appropriate treatments, to the practice of gender violence.. The problem of gender bias in health is still little explored in Chile, but the perception of unequal treatment reported by women in surveys reinforces the urgency of investigating and understanding it in a better way.
Currently, care is a topic of national interest due to the discussion about a National and Comprehensive Care Policy for Chile. This effort has been accompanied by diagnoses (such as the report recently published by the Ministry of Social Development and Family and UN Women Chile) that indicate that female caregivers demand the reduction of waiting lists, improved access to information, strengthening shifts and reducing waiting times.
Therefore, it is essential to address the needs expressed by women, especially in relation to their negative perception of the quality of public health services. This implies, in addition to creating new programs associated with care, promote effective management in services today, considering dignified treatment, with a gender perspective that recognizes women and their specificities, as well as female caregivers.
These last must be recognized as an integral part of the care systemand their demands for greater efficiency in processes and better treatment, as well as support for their physical and mental health, must be part of the improvement of public health systems today.
Finally, The gender differences shown in these results affirm the importance of considering the perceptions of women users of the public health system.as a fundamental indicator of the advancement of the right to access to health with a focus from the perspective of comprehensive health.
