2023-11-27 11:58:00
Redaccin Interempresas27/11/2023
There are almost ten million working women in Spain, exactly 9,878,200, according to the latest data from the active population survey (EPA)1, so it is essential to take into account their health needs in the work environment. With the aim of raising awareness and training health professionals in occupational medicine about the importance of a comprehensive approach to women’s health, the company an organtogether with MAPE and Quirnprevencinhave created the Health and Women in the Workplace program, a training and scientific information project that will review in detail the most common pathologies of women in the work environment.
From left to right: Dr. Pilar Fernndez-Figares, specialist in Occupational Medicine and coordinator of the Medical Services of El Corte Ingls; Cristina Alzina, executive director of Organon’s Established Brands Unit; the journalist Marta Fernndez; and Dr. Clotilde Vázquez, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition service at the Jimnez Díaz Foundation University Hospital.
Health and women in the workplace
This project, which will be developed from January 2024, will have different experts from both occupational medicine and other specialties. It will be made up of online conferences, broadcast through the Organon Pro platform and divided into four modules: women’s health, cardiovascular prevention, mental health, and migraine and pain.
Participating in the presentation event were Dr. Clotilde Vázquez, head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition service at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation University Hospital and the Príncipe de Vergara Quirnprevención center and author of the book Con Hormones Ya Lo Loco; Dr. Pilar Fernndez-Figares, specialist in Occupational Medicine and coordinator of the Medical Services of El Corte Ingls, a company whose staff is made up of 62.2% women, and Cristina Alzina, executive director of the Established Brands Unit by Organon.
All of them have agreed that occupational medicine can greatly strengthen women’s health, since in addition to offering safety and protection in the workplace, the occupational doctor can provide preventive medical care, vaccination and periodic health examinations.
Health professionals who carry out their function in the workplace play a very important role in women’s health, since their proximity and accessibility allow for annual detection campaigns or a quick response to the first symptoms or health concerns that a woman may have. women, thus being able to help achieve earlier diagnoses and even better prognoses, explained Cristina Alzina, executive director of Business at Organon Spain, who recalled that 50% of women wait until they have a serious symptom before going to the doctor. header, according to the survey Women and healthcarried out by the company together with the University of Alicante2.
The essential thing is that the woman has a reference person in her work doctor, so that when she has the first symptoms she can go quickly, Dr. Clotilde Vázquez has reinforced. The expert has also highlighted the increasing importance of the female perspective in health and how topics that were previously taboo are becoming normalized, such as the needs in pregnancy, or how menstruation is understood and now increasingly menopause, a moment transcendental of women that was not talked about before. Furthermore, it is becoming evident that many diseases behave differently between men and women, not only cardiovascular diseases, but also obesity, emotional disorders, stress, etc.
For her part, Dr. Pilar Fernández-Figares has highlighted the role of Occupational Medicine in preventing, promoting and protecting health, with follow-ups, and also with training and educational actions, evaluating jobs, their organization, and also taking care of mental health through the prevention of psychosocial risks. And this function is important before having any illness during the illness and, as has been pointed out at the meeting, when returning to work after a leave: the return of an employee after a leave has to be as healthy as possible, since the Work has to be a source of health and we want workers to feel cared for and supported.
A unique health
As the speakers have explained, Occupational Health can help health centers, since women have unique health, whether in the environment of their companies or in their personal lives. Therefore, among other actions, occupational health services can include gynecological examinations and family planning advice, as well as monitoring their condition, if necessary. In addition, they can be an important support for employees who are going through menopause, since between 30 and 40% of women say that it reduces their performance at work with symptoms such as hot flashes, insomnia, a feeling of tiredness or lack of sleep. of concentration3.
When it comes to mental health, women, who are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men4, may experience stress at work, work-life balance challenges, and other factors that affect their mental health. your emotional well-being. Therefore, it is necessary to act on potential mental health problems, whether they come from the workplace or outside of work.
Other priority areas in women’s health care that will be treated in the Program are obesity and cardiovascular diseases, which in 2022 were the first cause of death in Spain in women (27.8%), ahead of cancer ( 20.4%)5, or migraines, which are three times more frequent in women than in men6.
The development of this Program is part of Organon’s push for Health with Perspective as a way to improve the comprehensive health of women. This is a new look at their health needs, which takes into account that the way women and men get sick is different for biological, health and sociocultural reasons, so the approach to their health must also be different.
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