No abstract available.http://frontiersin.org/Public_Healthpm2021School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH

Bjegovic-Mikanovic, Vesna

Hamdan, Motasem

Laaser, Ulrich

Michel-Schuldt, Michaela

Senkubuge, Flavia

UPSpace at the University of Pretoria

EDITORIALpublished: 09 December 2020doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.602467Frontiers in Public Health | www.frontiersin.org 1 December 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 602467Edited by:Janya McCalman,Central QueenslandUniversity, AustraliaReviewed by:Tina McDonald,Central QueenslandUniversity, Australia*Correspondence:Ulrich Laaserulrich.laaser@uni-bielefeld.deSpecialty section:This article was submitted toPublic Health Policy,a section of the journalFrontiers in Public HealthReceived: 03 September 2020Accepted: 23 November 2020Published: 09 December 2020Citation:Laaser U, Bjegovic-Mikanovic V,Hamdan M, Senkubuge F andMichel-Schuldt M (2020) Editorial:Women’s Health in Low-ResourcedCountries: Epidemiology, Governance,Advocacy, Capacity.Front. Public Health 8:602467.doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.602467Editorial: Women’s Health inLow-Resourced Countries:Epidemiology, Governance,Advocacy, CapacityUlrich Laaser 1*, Vesna Bjegovic-Mikanovic 2, Motasem Hamdan 3, Flavia Senkubuge 4 andMichaela Michel-Schuldt 51 Faculty of Health Sciences, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, 2 Institute of Social Medicine, University of Belgrade,Belgrade, Serbia, 3 School of Public Health, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine, 4 School of Health Systems and PublicHealth, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, 5 EPOS Health Management, BadHomburg, GermanyKeywords: health systems, mother and child health, South Eastern European countries, Africa, countries intransitionEditorial on the Research TopicWomen’s Health in Low-Resourced Countries: Epidemiology, Governance, Advocacy, CapacityThe starter for this Research Topic in Frontiers in Public Health and Public Health Policy wasthe recent experience of members of the editorial team in West-Africa. Women’s health, especiallymaternal health, in most regions of the global south is part of the unfinished agenda as stated in theUnited Nation’s Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, missing the set targets for Goal 5:Improve Maternal Health. As of 2015, some of the highest maternal mortality ratios were recordedin West Africa, e.g., as 1,360 per 100,000 live births in Sierra Leone or 814 in Nigeria (1) whereasWestern countries usually stay between 5 and 10. Thus, it is legitimate to ask whether now thechances to reach SDG-3 in 2030 are better. We analyzed that, taking as an example Liberia—a smallAnglophone coastal country inWest-Africa. According to trends calculated on the basis of nationalsurvey data recorded in 2007 and 2013, Liberia is in delay by more than 10 years for maternalmortality and as well for neonatal mortality, in other words unlikely to achieve the SDG-3 targetin time. However, the quality of data is a problem as WHO for example paints a less unfavorablepicture based on estimates. A more encouraging example has been described and analyzed in thecontribution from Ghana—one of the most advanced African countries. The study concludes thatin a male dominated society the involvement of males into pregnancy and delivery—contrary to theinherited culture—makes a positive difference, especially in the selection of the place of delivery.Less in Ghana, more so in Liberia the most relevant upstream determinants of poor maternalhealth in the developing world are unreliable transport on roads, insufficient electricity, and lackof connectivity for online communication. On site, it includes lack of qualified and motivated,often underpaid health staff and regulated continuing professional training. Similarly technicalequipment, its maintenance, and regularly controlled stocks of essential drugs are rarely satisfying,at least in the remote settlements where large parts of the population lives.In Europe, we are confronted with other burdening problem sets. Two papers deal with thequite large Roma populations in South Eastern Europe. In the Republic of Srpska—in spite ofhealth insurance and universal health access are legally guaranteed—we find Roma women thathad less education, were unemployed, divorced or widowed, have unmet health needs and lackadequate medical supervision of a chronic condition. A second study compares desirable exclusivebreastfeeding in the Roma and non-Roma Serbian population. Habits differ considerably butmost striking is the observation that not a single Roma woman attended a childbirth preparationLaaser et al. Editorial: Women’s Healthprogram. In summary the statement seems to be justified that alsoin Europe we can observe female populations disadvantaged byorigin. Even more disturbing that one third of women worldwideexperience at some moment in their lives physical violenceeven from their intimate partners. In North Macedonia Violenceagainst women is the most common form of human rightsviolation against women and it has a negative impact on health,causing injuries, death, as well as psychological trauma. Again,minority groups, especially the Roma population are exposedthe most.How can that be solved, to realize the guarantied rightsto all genders instead of careful analyses leading to inefficientdeclarations. Two papers from Albania and from Greece callfor women leadership. The Albanian study shows progress infemale leadership qualification during the last decade howeverleaving behind elderly women. The Greek paper calls Genderinequalities an important derailment factor for health workforceand health system sustainability. It identifies a gap in the evidencebased research on women leaders’ own perceptions of barriers,especially work/life balance, lack of equal career advancement,and lack of confidence, in total 26 marked barriers, a rich arrayfor further research.It is the hope of the editorial group that this collection initiatesmore exploration of the concrete obstacles hindering females inlow-resourced countries to contribute their—inmanyways lost—potential to improve the world’s well-being: for example, giventhe importance of the issue, by organizing midwifery in theirown professional chambers, not the case even in all advancedcountries. The editors received publishable contributions fromtwo regions,West-Africa and South Eastern Europe, but there arerestrictions and even iron barriers for full female participationalso in advanced social environments. The high maternal andnewborn mortality in the global South and the expected failure toreach the SDG3 targets in 2030 could be enhanced considerablyby strengthening an equally footed female contribution. There isan abundance of actors, statistics, and financial support systemsbut there is still lack of confidence that women can take theirfate into own hands. The contributions in this issue, however,demonstrate that women are on the march!AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSThe editorial has been written by UL and approved bythe co-editors.Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as apotential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2020 Laaser, Bjegovic-Mikanovic, Hamdan, Senkubuge and Michel-Schuldt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the CreativeCommons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction inother forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s)are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordancewith accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permittedwhich does not comply with these terms.Frontiers in Public Health | www.frontiersin.org 2 December 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 602467

Editorial : Women's health in low-resourced countries : epidemiology, governance, advocacy, capacity

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Editorial : Women's health in low-resourced countries : epidemiology, governance, advocacy, capacity

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