Suffering in Silence

Suffering in Silence

There are plenty of untold stories about Indian Women who were facing a lot of health and mental issues. The spectrum of problems starts from simple anemia which can be easily treated to serious cancers without any cure, starting from simple anxiety to serious psychiatric disorders, and insults to sexual abuse. At Least a quarter of the women will never share their problems to the appropriate person at the appropriate time which leads to worsening of the situation most of the time. Women in developed countries express their problems without any hesitation to the healthcare giver and seek the best care to the possible extent as there is no financial constraints and they are aware of the disease burden.

There are many reasons for such silence. Sometimes the silence can be because of lack of awareness about the seriousness of the problem. Which was actually difficult to address for any single organization with a simple approach. As the problem is complex, the solution should be comprehensive and with an involvement from multiple stakeholders.

Few other reasons which are commonly overlooked include lack of support and guidance, lack of money and lack of resources like company, commute, nearby hospitals, appropriate doctors etc.

To state a classical example, Anemia is very common in India especially in the child bearing stage. This leads to inactivity, altered thought processes, dizziness, depressiveness, infertility, lack of immunity leading to infections and there are cases the anemia is identified at heart failure stage. It is just preventable with good nutrition and simply treatable with iron supplements on an outpatient basis if identified early.

It’s a combined responsibility of the family, society, doctors, all stakeholders in government including non government entities. Let’s pledge to look around and give females the freedom they need to express their problems, encourage them to share their problems and not to exploit their weaknesses and inabilities.