British women receive worse healthcare than those in Vietnam, Latvia and even Kazakhstan, an international study has found.
The UK has fallen from 30th to 37th place in a global ranking that ranks nations’ performance in five key areas of women’s health and wellbeing.
Experts blamed the decline on the UK’s failure to make much-needed progress in women’s healthcare over the past three years, while other countries had “leaps forward”.
The country scored below the EU average in areas such as cancer screening, emotional health and women’s safety in the Hologic Global Women’s Health Index 2023, published today.
There were also declines in how women in the UK rated care during pregnancy, access to healthcare and happiness levels.
The annual survey of almost 79,000 women from 143 countries and territories found that women’s health in the UK had not improved on average since 2020, while other nations had made progress.
Poland, for example, scored the same as the UK last year, but positive changes meant it jumped to ninth place globally this year.
Tim Simpson of Hologic UK and Ireland, a medical technology company specializing in women’s health, described the findings as “a call for action and improvement”.
She said: ‘Despite significant potential for progress, the UK is being overtaken by other countries, which are making more substantial progress in women’s health.
“This underscores the urgent need to pay greater attention to issues such as preventive measures and pregnancy care, not only to catch up but also to set a standard for women’s health globally.”
The survey found that women in the UK were less likely than those living in EU countries to have received preventive care in the past year, and less likely than the EU average to be screened for high blood pressure , cancer, diabetes and sexually transmitted infections.
Two in five women in the UK reported feeling worry and stress daily, and women were more likely to say they felt sadness, stress and anger than those living in EU countries.
Levels of negative emotions, including worry, sadness, stress and anger, among women living in the UK have increased significantly since 2020, while levels have fallen slightly across the EU on average.
In fact, levels of sadness reported by women in the UK have increased every year since the survey was first published in 2020.
Now one in three (32 per cent) said they felt sad the day before, up from one in five (21 per cent) three years ago.
Women in the UK were also more likely than their EU counterparts to feel dissatisfied with being able to access high-quality healthcare (such as getting a GP or a hospital appointment) where they lived.
Two-thirds of women surveyed in the UK (67 per cent), compared to 68 per cent in the EU, said they were satisfied they could access high-quality healthcare, up from 75 per cent three years ago.
In the UK, women are also now less likely to say that pregnancy care is satisfactory: 74 per cent agree with this statement compared to 77 per cent last year.
In the UK, women are also now less likely to say that their pregnancy care is satisfactory. The graph shows the NHS trusts in England that recorded the biggest drop in midwives between September 2022 and July 2023, the latest data available. Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust has seen its midwifery workforce fall by 12.8 per cent during this period
More than one in four women (27 per cent) in the UK said they lived with daily pain and a similar number (26 per cent) said they lived with health problems that limited their normal daily activities.
The number of women who said chronic illnesses interfered with their daily lives has increased by more than 50 percent in three years.
Commenting on the research, Dr Ranee Thakar, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “This work highlights the critical need for governments, non-governmental organizations and policy makers to prioritize women’s health. women and invest in interventions that put their health at risk. The best is first.
The highest ranked places were Taiwan (72), Kuwait (68), Austria (67), Germany (67) and Switzerland (66).
The UK ranked 37th with a score of 60 out of 100, putting it below the EU average of 61.
The worst countries in the world in 2023 for women’s health were Afghanistan, with a score of 26, followed by Sierra Leone (34), the Republic of the Congo (35) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (36). Globally, the average score was 54.
Janet Lindsay, chief executive of the charity Women’s Wellbeing, said the report should serve as a “stark reminder” that women and girls need better care and support.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The Government has made women’s health a top priority and is driving forward a Women’s Health Strategy that delivers a better standard of care for women and girls.”