When the health care system fails half the population

Imagine that you have an invisible illness that causes extreme pain – but no one takes you seriously. Maybe you get a prescription for birth control pills. Maybe a friendly pat on the shoulder. Maybe a call to « breathe with the stomach. »

This is and has been everyday for many of women with endometriosis, a disease that takes an average of seven years to be diagnosed. Not because it is rare, but because women's health has been prioritized in research and treatment.

Our health care system is based on an understanding developed for male patients. Women often experience other symptoms of severe diseases, such as a heart attack. Because the research and guidelines have not been adapted to female patients, these symptoms can often be overlooked or mistreated. This also applies to a number of other diseases and health problems where women's symptoms are overlooked or misunderstood.

For many decades, women have participated fully in working life. This has resulted in great growth in welfare and production in society. At the same time, women have higher sick leave and are over -represented in the disability statistics, especially in the age group 45 to 60 years. And this costs society and the individual expensive, especially when the absence becomes long -lasting. But the debate about why women are more sick than men lack an important perspective: understanding and knowledge of women's health.

With better knowledge and treatment, more women could have had higher quality of life and worked longer. When health professionals, teachers and care workers disappear from working life because their health problems are not taken seriously, it affects the entire welfare society.

Right takes women's health seriously:

We want to strengthen research on women's health, so that medical knowledge and treatment take into account female patients.

We will introduce more training on women's diseases in the medical study and further education for health professionals, so that doctors and nurses can actually diagnose and treat.

We want to provide faster and more precise diagnostic paths, so women do not have to wait years for answers.

It's time to take this seriously, women have been waiting long enough! It is time for action – for better women's health, for working life and for society as a whole.

Sirin Figenschou Høyen

and Ronni Fawaz-Pinstrup

2. And 3. List candidate for Finnmark Right