The Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Sithembiso Nyoni has called for a gender-based approach to public health as a means of addressing the vulnerabilities and risks faced by women and girls.
Speaking at Press conference today, Nyoni said women encounter numerous constraints including affordability, medical insurance and mobility restrictions in accessing affordable, adequate health services which includes reproductive health and counselling services.
“There is need for a gender based approach to public health which addresses the specific health vulnerabilities and risks of women and girls. Holistic health services need to address the physical as well as mental and emotional well-being of women by developing gender responsive training and service delivery to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for women and girls,” she said.
Nyoni called for inclusive systems and sustainable infrastructure to accelerate the empowerment of women and girls/
“I call upon for stakeholders to help me fulfill my mandate. let us be bold and morally conscious to investment in gender- responsive social systems , build more inclusive systems, build more inclusive systems efficient services and sustainable infrastructure to accelerate the empowerment of women and girls,” she added.
The 2019 international women’s day is running under the theme ‘Think equal, build smart, innovate for change’ while the national theme will be ‘Sustainable infrastructure and access to public services for gender Equality and the Empowerment for women’.
The International Women’s Day is commemorated on the 8th of March and this year’s event will be held at Gokwe Centre in the Midlands province.
