The Women’s Health Strategy

• The Norwegian Women's Health Strategy (in Norwegian, PDF)

A report from the Women’s Health Commission titled “The Big Difference: On Women’s Health in Norway and Why Sex and Gender Matter” (in Norwegian), as well as a public hearing, have influenced the development of this strategy.

The Women’s Health Strategy has the following three main aims:

• Better health for all women throughout the life course
• Equity in health care and reduced social inequality in health
• Better quality through improved knowledge about women’s health

The strategy’s main areas are health promotion and the health and care services, including both primary health care and the hospitals.

Women’s health has a broad definition in the strategy to include not only typical female conditions such as pregnancy and menopause, but also mental health, headache, musculoskeletal disorders and other conditions which affect women more often than men.

The strategy has several priority areas that e.g. includes the following:

• Increased knowledge and skills in the health services about women’s health through the life course
• Policy development concerning the elderly should include women as next of kin carers
• Research should include a gender and/or women’s health perspective
• Better use and analysis of health data to support the development of policy areas concerning gender and health for better understanding and tackling disparities
• Address and share information and data on gender disparities in connection to health promotion measures, health risks and the burden of disease
• Revision and development of new national guidelines should include gender and women’s health perspective