Ireland falls in global survey of female health

An annual global survey has found that Ireland fell from 20th place in 2020 to 24th place in 2022 in rankings measuring how 143 nations perform in key areas of women’s health and well-being.

Taiwan topped the table while Afghanistan came bottom of the Hologic Global Women’s Health Index.

The report on 79,000 women scored countries on preventive care, emotional health, basic needs, individual health and opinions of health and safety from 2020 to 2022.

On preventive care, Ireland ranked 63rd on the table of 143 countries.

Only 44pc of the Irish women surveyed said they were screened for blood pressure in 2022, 17pc were screened for cancer, 17pc were screened for diabetes and 7pc were tested for STDs and STIs.

In contrast, in Puerto Rico, which topped the table in preventive care, 70pc of women were screened for high blood pressure, 46pc for cancer and 57pc for diabetes while 30pc were tested for STDs and STIs.

Hologic CEO Stephen P MacMillan said the annual survey measured the state of health for 97pc of the world’s women and girls aged 15 and older.

“The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index serves as an enduring benchmark to measure and monitor changes in the behaviours and attitudes that influence women’s access to quality healthcare in every corner of the world,” he said.

“Regrettably, this year’s findings reveal that women’s global health has stagnated, especially in critical dimensions like preventive care and basic needs, two factors that have a major impact on a woman’s average life expectancy at birth.

“Last year, more than one billion women never visited a healthcare professional.”

The report stressed the importance of preventive care to help people avoid illnesses and detect health problems early.

“The right test at the right time helps make it possible for women to be treated and live healthier and potentially longer lives, Mr MacMillan said.

“Most women say they haven’t been tested for cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure or an STD/STI in the past 12 months, meaning that billions of women went untested for potentially life-threatening conditions for the third consecutive year.”

Regarding emotional health, Irish women were placed 37 th out of 143 countries, with Vietnam in first place and Kazakhstan in second place.

For Irish women, feelings of worry, stress and anger had all fallen although feelings of sadness had slightly increased since 2020, according to the report.

When asked about the emotions they experienced the previous day, 34pc of Irish women surveyed said they experienced worry, 24pc felt sadness, 37pc experienced stress and 13pc experienced anger.

The study found Irish women felt safer walking at night in the area where they lives with 75pc feeling secure in 2022 compared to 67pc in 2020. Satisfaction with pregnancy care in their area remained steady at 82pc to 85pc across the three years.

On basic needs, Ireland was placed at No 18 on the list of countries with only 8pc saying they didn’t have enough money for food and 10pc saying they couldn’t afford shelter.

Ireland got its highest score on the metric of individual health with 18pc of women saying they had health problems and 23pc of women saying they had experienced physical pain the previous day.

The index is compiled through interviews with about 500 women in each country by the global analytics firm Gallup and Hologic, a medical technology firm primarily focused on women’s health.

Overall, women in Ireland had a much higher rate of emotional well-being than the global average with a higher score than the UK or the US but lower than Japan and South Korea.