Health issues part of Women’s Week
As part of Women’s Week, a presentation was made this afternoon on an issue they often neglect: their own health. The main message today was take care of yourself or you won’t be able to take care of others.
Joan Musa, Chairperson, National Women’s Commission
“Well, we think it is very important for women to look after themselves. They are the caregivers of the family and throughout the country and we feel that they can’t give good care unless they look after their own health.”
Women make many sacrifices for their families, often without taking care of their own needs or health. This afternoon, however, The National Women’s Commission, in conjunction with the Baptist Health Miami International Medical Centre, encouraged Belizean women of all ages to dedicate at least four hours for themselves to learn about health issues susceptible to them and what they can do to stay alive.
Ana Basil, Manager, Guest Relations, Baptist Health
“We usually go through the countries of South America and Central America and the Caribbean putting ladies forums to bring awareness to the ladies on how to take care of their health. We always kind of neglect ourselves and we take care of our loved ones first and then we end up sick and that’s when everyone panics. And so we need to just look out for ourselves so that we can in turn look out for our loved ones.”
The women were treated to free blood glucose and blood pressure screenings and then listened to informative talks on topics such peri-menopause, menopause, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease which is the number one killer of women.
Ana Basil
“Actually, cardiovascular disease starts at any age and usually it’s said that it starts when you are young, when you are a baby and how you start eating and learnt to eat, that’s how cardiovascular disease really starts. And then as far as menopause and hormone replacement therapy, osteoporosis–osteoporosis, if you do not follow a certain way of eating and taking calcium, eventually it will catch up. So osteoporosis goes back to when you are a child and it starts developing. And of course menopause, you need to know what are the symptoms because they say menopause really starts probably a few years before it actually takes place, so we need to be aware of what to look for and our moods and how we forget and the weight gain and so on and so forth.”
Women’s Week is held each year to honour the achievements and developments of women, but as stated by N.W.C.’s President Dolores Balderamos Garcia, there is still more that needs to be accomplished.
Dolores Balderamos, President, Natl. Women’s Commission
“I mean I could never, as President of the Women’s Commission, say to you that we are satisfied with where women are locally, on our village level. In the local communities in the city for example, we have a lot of women increasingly affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. We have a lot of single mothers, a lot of women who are lagging behind in terms of what we call economic empowerment. And so we are working hard on those issues.”
Tonight, the Belize Family Life Association and HECOPAB, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation, will put off a theatrical production that looks at women’s vulnerability to HIV and AIDS. The show gets underway at the Pickstock Hutment at seven.
