Working for Change 163
Things to Avoid to Stay Healthy
Tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs can all be bad for a woman’s health.
For more information, see page 435.
Working toward a balance between
treatment and prevention
Health workers, or anyone working to improve the health of
women in the community, can play an important role in stopping
illnesses before they start. But often a woman’s main need
is not preventing illness but getting relief from an illness she
already has. One of the first concerns of a health worker, then,
must be to help with healing.
But treatment can be used as a doorway to
prevention. One of the best times to talk to a
woman about prevention is when she comes
to see you for help. For example, if a woman
comes to you with an infection of the urine
system, treat the problem first. Then take time to
explain how she can prevent these infections in the future.
Work toward a balance between prevention and treatment
that is acceptable to the women you see. This balance will
depend a lot on how the women already feel about sickness,
healing, and health. As daily survival becomes less of a challenge,
as their ideas about health change, and more diseases are
controlled, you may find that they become more interested in
prevention. Then much needless suffering can be avoided, and
you can help women work toward more effective self-care.
Working
for Change
➤ Health workers
can play an
important role in
helping women work
together to prevent
women’s health
problems in the
community.
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012