Toilet talk and health plea for International Women’s Day
As media releases go, it was one of the more unusual to hit my inbox – if only for the language used. ‘‘The Me Too movement has opened the conversation about sexual abuse and there is now more discussion around periods, but no-one seems to want to talk about pee and poo!’’ claimed Massey University’s Dr Alice Beban.
I’m not a fan of an exclamation mark in a news release, but on this occasion, I felt it was well-warranted.
Dr Beban – who researched how those who’ve recently given birth fare, when they find their pelvic floor no longer works as well as it should (hence the pee and poo) is spot on. There are parts of our bodies we’re OK discussing when they malfunction, and some we (as a society) have deemed non grata. Hurt your back? Tennis elbow? No worries, take that issue down to the pub or pop onto Facebook and ask around, you’ll find more armchair diagnoses than you can swish a Wilson Blade at. (that’s Serena Williams’ racquet – Ed)
But anything to do with ‘‘plumbing’’ (male, often, but definitely female) or, god forbid, any kind of lady bits, and the information available becomes increasingly sparse. Even in a doctor’s surgery.
Beban’s research, which will be presented to the Hawke’s Bay DHB this month, found medical staff don’t talk much to new mums about pelvic floor failure, and the new mums, out of embarrassment, don’t ask. If they do mention it to their GP, they’re often given two options – do nothing, or have surgery (which many find frightening and extreme.) Does this seem barely credible, especially when you realise one in every three will have some kind of incontinence issue, and half of all who’ve given birth will have a prolapse at some point in their lives?
Course it does. On the other hand, perhaps it shouldn’t come as such a surprise.
Late last year, a survey conducted by the Gender Justice Collective talked to more than 3000 people (including assigned at birth and trans women, non-binary, ta¯ katapui and intersex people) and found health was one of the top issues of concern. Yet, this country is yet to join the dots to ensure those concerns are properly addressed.
We’re left with extraordinary situations like, for example, the insertion of IUDs (longacting contraceptive devices.) Two forms of IUD were funded by Pharmac at the end of 2019 – a huge step forward – but because there is no practical training scheme, GPs that same year reported having to watch a video to learn how to insert them. Or they refuse, and send the patient to a private gynaecologist for the
procedure – and suddenly, a health intervention that’s supposed to be free, is costing the patient $500.
In 2014, the Women’s Health Action Group called for a nationwide women’s health strategy. Such a strategy would include all women and prioritise those who have the highest risk of poor health, understand health needs at all stages of life, and create equitable access, including culturally safe practices for Ma¯ ori, Pasifika, and LGBTQI.
Seven years later, we still do not have it (Australia has been working towards one for 10 years, and implemented it in 2020.) Today, a petition is launching that again calls for a national strategy. Steps to that would include the formation of a select committee to inquire into women’s health, and $6 million in the 2021 budget to start the ball rolling.
New Associate Minister for Health Dr Ayesha Verrall did not comment on the above when I contacted her this week, but did say she wanted faster progress for women’s health, and named ‘‘abortion services and contraception, specifically LARCS (long acting reversible contraception) and improving maternity care for women, babies and their wider wha¯ nau’’ as priorities.
No word on the money, and I’d argue $6m is not a lot when you’re talking about an issue more than 50 per cent of the population has named as crucial to their lives. Treasury’s refusal to analyse the Budget with a gender lens, despite the pleas of a pile of women’s advocacy groups, does not send much of a positive message to the hopeful.
It’s not just Alice Beban’s research on pees and poos that needs addressing. The gaps in women’s health have been identified for years – and tomorrow’s International Women’s Day feels like a great opportunity to get moving on fixing them.
There are parts of our bodies we’re OK discussing when they malfunction, and some we (as a society) have deemed non grata.