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STUDY BY THE UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHT TO PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH, ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH OF OLDER PERSONS

Website of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health:

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/health/right/overview.htm

A/HRC/18/37

Thematic study of the SR on the right to health on the realization of the right to health of older persons

E F S R C A

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Gender Excerpts from Report:

III. The Right to Health of Older Persons

29."Older women are often more disadvantaged because they may suffer from

a combination of both gender and age discrimination. Ageing women make up

a significant proportion of the world's population with the majority of older women 

living in developing countries. A number of life-course events adversely affect the

health of women in older age, including discrimination against infant girls in the

provision of food and care, barriers to education, low incomes and poorer access

to decent work, care-giving responsibilities as mothers and wives, violence

(during childhood, adulthood and elder abuse), widowhood, and cultural traditions

and attitudes toward health care. Lower incomes, disruptions to work due to family

responsibilities, and discrimination in access to the labour force during women's

working life mean that women often have less retirement savings and are therefore

more financially vulnerable in older age."