THERE are growing concerns about the impact of increased mental, physical and financial load for women in the region as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Women’s Health Loddon Mallee (WHLM) chief executive Tricia Currie said it comes as investment in women’s health “significantly” dropped.
“Women have continued to disproportionately shoulder the burden of the pandemic.
“They have been more likely to lose work, suffer severe financial impacts and take on an even greater share of unpaid caring responsibilities.”
Ms Currie said that the effects of the crisis were being felt across health services, with women in the Loddon Mallee region putting off their own health needs, including vital cancer screenings, as the demands on their daily lives continued to grow.
“We are now hearing reports of women who face ever-increasing levels of anxiety and stress in our community,” she said.
Ms Currie said that some of the concerns that women faced included lack of access to RATs (rapid antigen tests) and N95 masks, supermarket shortages, and concerns about the safety of their children and families with the return to school.
“These are just some of the issues exacerbating already alarming levels of poor mental health for women in our region,” she said.
“On top of this, our public health system is asking everyday communities to manage epidemiological risk without having access to clear and consistent information and resources.
“These COVID-19-related challenges have been particularly hard on women, who are most likely to carry the burden of increased household demands, including caring for unwell family members and managing increased levels of anxiety in children.”
WHLM has called for greater investment in primary prevention for women’s heath in this year’s state budget.
The organisation warned that a failure to address increasing illness in Victorian women through health promotion and primary intervention would cost the state $41.2 billion in “avoidable” acute health care “to an already overstretched health system”.
WHLM said that the level of funding provided for women’s health and wellbeing promotion and prevention activities needed to increase to $4.35 per women in metropolitan regions and $5.60 per women in rural and remote Victoria. The current funding allocated was $2.07 per woman.
“Women must not be invisible in COVID-19 recovery and public health investment,” Ms Currie said.
“In addition to high-quality vaccination programs, we need investment to engage communities directly to build their resilience.”
In 2020, an estimated 38.2 per cent of Victorian women reported having ever been diagnosed with depression or anxiety compared with 29 per cent of women in 2015. Meanwhile in 2020, an estimated 25.1 per cent of men reported having ever been diagnosed with depression or anxiety compared with 19.2 per cent of men in 2015.
“We really are depending upon the goodwill of women in our community, to do the right thing without providing them the resources or support to do so,” Ms Currie said.
“We are also asking women in our community to take on the risk of getting sick – to juggle their wellbeing and work with illness and COVID.
“It takes a healthy community to drive a productive economy and, well, women are at the heart of healthy communities.
“Let us implement primary prevention strategies now that will save lives and will get us back to COVID normal without negatively impacting our community.”
