Andorra Women Health Information
Reported, January 11, 2012
Health benefits, treatments and health services are planned and made available taking the gender into account and bearing in mind the situations, circumstances and characteristics of women at each phase of their life cycle. We also wish to put on record that the Principality of Andorra has recently approved the European Social Charter with 19 revised articles and 10 revised paragraphs, among which article 11 The right to protection of health, article 12 The right to social security and article 13 The right to social and medical assistance.
The infant mortality rate for the last three five year periods has been as follows:
1996-2000: 2.4 for every 1000 live births
1997-2001: 2.4 for every 1000 live births
1998-2002: 2.3 for every 1000 live births
We would stress that the maternal mortality rate has been zero for the last three five year periods. In general, the number of deaths of residents registered in Andorra and the relevant gross mortality rates have increased3 progressively in the latest periods of five years, going from a rate of 3 per 1000 inhabitants in the five year period 1994-1998 to 3.4 per 1000 inhabitants in the five
year period 1998-2002.
From a gender perspective, in all periods surveyed (within these periods of five years) deaths are distributed in the proportion 60% men and 40% women. During the last five year period surveyed, 1998-2002, 2.8 women in every 1000 died and 4 men in every 1000.
The birth rate in Andorra increased between the period 1994-1998 and the period 1998-2002,going from 10.5 to 11.81 per 1000 inhabitants. The fertility rate has also increased during the same periods going from 37.5 in the first period to 43.33 per 1000 women aged between 15 and 49 in the second.
This increase may be real or be affected by the project for improving the collection of data and checking of deaths begun in 1998.
With regard to the fertility rate it is noteworthy that women become mothers at a later age seeing that in the period 1998-2002 if we observe the fertility rate per age group of the mother, the age group 30-34 was the most fertile with a fertility rate of 86.36 per 1000 women, the highest of all the age groups.
We would point out that this year the first health survey in Andorra of the population aged 0 to 15 will be made.
In the survey on gender inequality in health, conditions of working and family life in Andorra,which was made in 2002, we find that women visit health professionals more often. It comes to light that most of the health indicators are less favourable to women: they have a worse perceived state of health, worse mental health, less vitality, more chronic limitation of normal activities and main activities.
66% of women regularly visit a gynaecologist and 78% of these say that they have cytologies done.
Strategic aim C1. In 2003 the celebration of world heart day addressed the elderly woman. The Ministry of Health and Welfare with the slogan: one heart for your whole life carried out an information campaign on the prevention of heart ailments, risk behaviour at all ages in a woman and the consequences which this behaviour may have on a woman’s well-being.
Strategic aim C2. At the same time, as a support to actions taken by the associations of women in the country, the State Secretariat for Welfare has for three years subsidized a project for raising awareness about and giving information on cancer in a person’s life which at the same time offers mutual aid to women with breast cancer. The collective group responsible for this project
is the group ALBA of the Association of Women of Andorra. This year the project is focusing prostate cancer in men.Strategic aim C3. The Association of Migrant and Andorran Woman carried out a project in 2002, which under the title Equality for Sexual and Reproductive Health addressed sexual education and the prevention of infectious and contagious diseases. This project was financed by
the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
As part of this cooperation, this year the Ministry of Health and Welfare has subsidized an AIDS information and prevention campaign by the collective group SOM COM SOM with the aim of improving the degree of knowledge of the sickness and its transmission.
International cooperation To conclude this point related to actions taken by civic bodies and subsidized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, mention should be made of the Program of Education for Life and Youth Participation in Djibouti set up by UNICEF in cooperation with the government of that country with the aim of reducing the propagation of the AIDS virus and the consumption of drugs.
