UK worse than China for women’s healthcare

Britain on a par with Kazakhstan and is sliding in global rankings, says study

WOMEN’S healthcare in the UK is worse than that of China and Saudi Arabia, according to a global tracker.

Poor efforts at prevention, diagnosis and treatment of health problems left the UK ranked lower than several countries with a troubling record on women’s rights.

The research, which compared a wealth of data, found Britain fared worse than most comparable countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany.

The UK was placed 30th out of 122 countries, in the 2021 Hologic Global Women’s Health Index, published today. The score, three points lower than when a similar exercise was carried out last year, places Britain on a par with Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Kosovo and Poland for women’s healthcare provision.

Overall, 30th place represented a marked fall from the 12th position in the previous year’s rankings.

While direct comparisons are not possible, as several of the countries examined this year were not included last year, the findings show a deterioration in the position of Britain, which was previously rated better than countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, the US, France and New Zealand.

The index published by Hologic, a global medical technology company which specialises in women’s health and makes medical imaging and diagnostic and surgical products, is based on a survey of more than 127,000 people worldwide by the analytics firm Gallup.

Analysts said poor access to screening, long waits for diagnosis and lack of support for mental health issues were among the factors explaining Britain’s poor showing.

The Government has been accused of “consistently deprioritising” women’s health after it was reported last month that the gynaecology waiting times in England had trebled in a decade.

On average, women now wait nearly four months for a first hospital appointment with a gynaecology specialist – but 38,000 women in England have been on the waiting list for more than a year.

The index highlighted issues with mental health support provision in the UK, with the country’s score for women’s emotional health falling eight points in a year to 68 out of 100.

On preventive care, such as cancer and diabetes screening, the UK scored 23 out of 100.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We have put women’s health at the top of the agenda by publishing the Women’s Health Strategy for England, appointing the first-ever Women’s Health Ambassador, and taking action to increase supply and reduce the cost of HRT.”