{"paper_id":"68fc526b-2b27-4051-a4a3-8cb54f0495b6","body_text":"Women’s health is identified as a global health\npriority. Women’s health is affected by many factors,\nsuch as the economy, environment, society,\nculture, religion, and biology ( 1 ). In addition, biological\nchanges during throughout their lives such\nas menstruation, menopause, sexual and reproductive\naspects, as well as care-giving to children and\nelderly members of the family leads them to use\nmore health services. Nonetheless, their having\naccess to and utilization of appropriate health services\nis debatable ( 2 ).\nThere are also some other factors which are\ncombined to form a lower quality of life and more\nhealth risks for women including their higher life\nexpectancy compared to men in most countries,\nunequal access to health information and basic\nhealth support along with specific health hazards,\nsuch as physical and sexual assault, sexually transmitted\ndiseases(STDs) ( 3 ).\nIn 2009, the Department of Gender, Women, and\nHealth of the World Health Organization (WHO)\nofficially announced ten facts regarding women’s\nhealth ( 4 ):\nThe epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly\nfemale.\nTobacco use is rapidly rising among the younger\nwomen in developing countries.\nViolence has serious health consequences for\nwomen.\nViolence against women is widespread worldwide.\nEven though early marriage is on the decline,100\nmillion girls are estimated to marry before their\n18th birthday over the next 10 years.\nMost adolescent mothers live in developing\ncountries.\nEssentially all maternal deaths occur in developing\ncountries.\nWhen women earn an income, they are more\nlikely than men to buy nets for their house holds to\nprevent malaria.\nThe burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary\ndisease (COPD) is over 50% higher among women\nin comparison to men.\nWomen have a higher risk of becoming visually\nimpaired than men.\nIt is clear that some facts may be different between\ndeveloping and developed countries. Nonetheless,\nthere are many commonalities in health\nchallenges facing women worldwide. For instance,\nby improving perinatal care and reducing maternal\nmortality rates, women from developing countries\nwill live longer and are less likely to suffer from\npoor health and premature mortality. In addition,\nthe trend of changing mortality is similar to that of\nthe developed countries; i.e., women have to live\nwith chronic diseases for years ( 5 ).\nThese findings indicate that despite remarkable\nprogress in the past decades, health organizations\n(national and international) have unsuccessfully\nfulfilled the health care needs of women at major\ncourses of their lives, mainly during adolescence\nand older ages ( 6 ,  7 ).\nHence, WHO requests urgent action in dealing\nwith non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and\nnational health providers to ameliorate the health\nstatus as well as the quality of life of females of\nall age groups from teenagers to the elderly worldwide.\nAs an urgent action toward women’s health\nis in need, more targeted and reliable researches\nare being conducted in this field ( 8 ).\nUnder these circumstances, the Health Policy\nResearch Center affiliated with Shiraz University\nof Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran decided to\nhold The First Iranian International Conference on\nWomen’s Health on June 14-15, 2012, at Sina and\nSadra Conventional Center in Shiraz, Iran.\nThis conference was held in collaboration with\nthe University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA,\nLos Angeles, CA, USA), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg\nSchool of Public Health (Baltimore, MD,\nUSA), Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada),\nLeyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing (Leiden,\nNetherlands), United Nations Population Fund\n(UNFPA, Tehran, Iran), Iran Academy of Medical\nSciences (Tehran, Iran), Centre for Women and\nFamily in the President Institution (Tehran, Iran),\nIran Society of Midwifery (Tehran, Iran), Association\nof Food and Nutritional Health Supporter\nof Iran (Tehran, Iran), Iran Society of Gastroenterologists\nand Hepatologists (Tehran, Iran), Iran\nAssociation of Clinical Laboratory Doctors (Tehran,\nIran), Iran Society of Endocrinology (Tehran,\nIran), Iran Obesity Society (Tehran, Iran), Breast\nFeeding Promotion Society (Tehran, Iran), and\nIran Society for Reproductive Medicine (Tehran,\nIran). This conference aimed to provide up-todate,\nreliable information and research in these\nseven categories: women’s healthy aging, noncommunicable\ndiseases, communicable diseases,\npsycho-social aspects of women’s health,health\npromotion, reproductive health and nutrition in\npregnancy, breast feeding and menopause.\nOverall, more than 900 national and international\nspecialists, experts, and critics form various majors\nand subspecialties participated in this conference.\nDuring the two days of the seminar, experts\nstated their findings and experiences through oral\nand poster presentations. Panel discussions were\nalso organized which provided an appropriate atmosphere\nfor sharing and challenging hot topics in\ndifferent fields of women’s health. A total of 865\nabstracts in different subjects of women’s health\nwere sent to the seminar scientificsecretariat, 350\nof which were assigned for poster presentations.\nThere were also 10 oral presentations.\nTopics of the selected abstract for oral and\nposter presentation sranged from pure medical\nsurveys to national and international health promotion\nprojects as well as psychosocial and longterm\naspects of women’s health. The main topics\npresented (oral or poster) were:\nWomen’s health; what are the real challenges?\nDomestic violence\nProfile of intimate partner violence in women\nvisiting an inner-city emergency department\nPsychological aspect of menopause\nMental health status of women whose husbands\nhave had sexual relations with other women\nTension headache; disease burden in women\nWomen in the mirror of beauty and glory\nHow to prevent women’s osteoporosis in particular?\nHow to have the least cardiovascular events in\npost-menopausal period?\nQuality of life in patients with endometriosis\nVulvo-vaginal disorders\nPrevention of cancer of the cervix uteri\nBreast cancer; challenges and policies along with\nepidemiology\nWell-being into old age, life expectancy, and\ngood health care for older women\nHealth status of female refugees\nDietary considerations to optimize healthy aging\nin postmenopausal women\nNutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women\nHow to promote breast feeding\nControversies on elective cesarean section\nMaternal and neonatal outcome of cesarean section\nversus vaginal delivery\nAssessing environmental causes of birth defects\nthrough developmental toxicity experiments using\naccurate statistical models\nEpidemiology of Infertility\nDuring the conference, Ms.Maria A.E. van der\nWaal who is the director at Leyden Academy on\nVitality and Ageing and the Director at the International\nLongevity Centre of the Netherlands\nstated that human ageing has become one of the\nbiggest challenges worldwide. The average life\nexpectancy has increased in virtually all developed\ncountries and women live longer than\nmen. Life expectancy at the age of 65 in particular\nreflects the outcomes of the socio-medical\nsystems to prevent and cope with chronic, ageassociated\ndiseases. Nowadays, at the age of\n65, life expectancy in the Netherlands is three\nyears shorter for women and two years shorter\nfor men compared to Japan, which has achieved\nthe highest life expectancy in the world over the\nlast two decades. However, if one compares this\nto the 1950s, these results would be reversed. In\nthe industrialized countries, women live longer\nand face a longer burden of disease, meaning\nthat women spend more years in poor health.\nThe more years spent with a disease is caused\nby increased case detection, early diagnoses,\nand increased medical treatment of the risk factors.\nFuture challenge is to limit the number of\nyears with disabilities and diseases at the end\nof life. A good healthcare system will contribute\nto improving health and will decrease the\nnumber of years the people suffer from chronic\ndiseases. This will most likely result in a further\nincrease of the life expectancy.\nDr. Batool Ahmadi who is an Assistant Professor\nof Health Economics and Management\nSciences at Tehran University of Medical Sciences,\nTehran, Iran expressed the challenges of\nadvancing women’s health in Iran. She elucidated\nthat serious changes in women’s life at\nhome, society, and work place have created\nnew challenges for the country’s health sector,\nwhich requires deeper understanding of the\nconcepts of women’s health in our country. As\nthe fertility rate has sharply decreased in Iran,\nwomen’s health concepts and needs have increasingly\nincluded problems beyond reproduction\nand should include a more comprehensive\nand holistic view and approaches of women’s\nhealth experiences in their life span. Moreover,\ncurative and preventive strategies should\naddress the women’s most important difficulties\nwhich affect their health and, at the same\ntime, resource allocation should be based on the\nwomen’s health priorities.\nAt the end of the conference, a final manifesto\nof the congress was declared. The main subjects\nwere reinforcing the recommendations for additional\nclinical preventive services for women,\nmobilizing health professionals within practice,\neducation, and research to address national\nhealth goals, encouraging the adoption of ongoing\nprevention guidelines which are evidencebased,\ngender-sensitive, and culturally appropriate,\npersuading all stakeholders (including\nacademics, healthcare organizations, civil society,\nthe private sector, donors, and healthcare\nworkers) to harmonize their endeavors on\nwomen’s health, changing the viewpoint to the\nwomen as a workforce alliance like men along\nwith considering the major roles of the women\nas the basis of the family, establishing elementary\npatterns for investigating women’s health\npolicies, improving the coverage, accessibility,\nand quality of women-oriented health services,\nknowledge building and translation about women’s\nhealth needs, empowering psycho-social\ncare of pregnant and postpartum women, and\nupdating and expanding reproductive and sex\nhealth services for women in accordance with\nthe newly-developed approach of higher level\nsupports beyond maternity and reproduction.\nThe closing ceremony was accompanied by\nawarding the best presentations (a 30,000,000 Iran Rials or approximately 1400 USD research grant\nfor each of the five winners). All participants were\ninvited to attend the second annual international\ncongress which will be held in 2013.\nFinally, women’s health matters to women,\ntheir children and families, their communities,\nand the society as a whole. Accordingly, interventions\naimed at changing personal behavior,\nsuch as sexual behaviors, tobacco and alcohol\nuse, nutritional habits, and physical activity, or\nchanging health care organizations and sectors;\nfor example, guaranteeing access to medications\nand encouraging community-based care\nmay remarkably reduce morbidity and mortality.\nExtensive strategies, such as poverty reduction,\nincreased access to literacy training\nand education, and providing opportunities for\nwomen to participate in economic and social activities\nwill also contribute to meeting the millennium\ndevelopment goals and making abiding\nachievements in women’s health.","source_license":"CC-BY-4.0","license_restricted":false}