Influences on Women’s Health

Women from different cultures view good health as luck or success, while illness represents bad luck or fate. Health is believed to be a blessing from God; and it is promoted and enhanced by following religious teachings such as abstaining from matters that are harmful to health including alcohol, drugs, excessive eating, and sexual promiscuity, among other vices (Bhattacharya, 2004, p.106). In most communities, women prefer health promoting practices which include prayers, meditation, cleanliness, and breastfeeding (Pelto, 2008, p.237). Women in the Muslim community, for example, believe that illness is a sign of love from God, a test of faith and a blessing in disguise to obtain forgiveness for sins from the past. In most cases, the women in this community consider it to be wake-up call for self-reflection and enhanced spiritual connections. Illness is considered to be God’s will; therefore God is the ultimate healer but while this may be the case, there are some who do not necessarily believe that illness is God’s will, but believe that He is the ultimate healer. 

In some communities, the women are often influenced by the ideals of their societies so that whenever they face a health concern such as HIV, they might not share it with members of their own communities or even their families, because of the stigma associated with this condition (Bauer, Rodriguez, Quiroga & Flores-Ortiz, 2000, p.34). It has also been found that there are some political factors which influence the health of women and most of these tend to be related to the way they that their governments handle matters concerning their health. There are certain instances where governments rarely get involved in providing funding for the provision of health services for their citizens. In such circumstances, there exist those women who live below the poverty line and these are often left exposed to the different forms of illnesses which would otherwise have been treated.