'We have to respond to women's health needs more easily'

'We have to respond to women's health needs more easily'Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleRumeana JahangirNorth WestGetty ImagesMany women say they have felt unsupported in their medical needs"The trouble is, sometimes the world around us has been designed by men and therefore doesn't adequately take into account the needs of women."Public health director Prof Matt Ashton is explaining why groups in Liverpool are trying to remedy the historical under-resourcing of women's healthcare.A review of the city's medical challenges two years ago revealed its residents - male and female - had shorter lives than the national average."One of the things that came out of that report was the particular impact around female health outcomes and female life expectancy and so we've now done a deep dive into those issues," Ashton says."What it shows is that women in Liverpool spend around 30% of their lives in poor health and experience ill health around 10 years earlier than women nationally – well, clearly this is shocking."Hundreds of health and community leaders gathered at a major conference on Friday to discuss making improvements, after the report also found lung cancer mortality and respiratory deaths among the city's women were double the national average.Drug-related fatalities among women were also more than three times higher than the England average.Toni Garrigos, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, says communication between different health services needs to improveDebbie Nolan, head of health services for Citizens Advice Liverpool, says the data "reflects what the voluntary and community sector sees every day - women's health is shaped as much by poverty, housing, caring responsibilities and safety as by healthcare".She adds community organisations fill "a vital role in supporting women where systems don't always meet their needs"."Women in Liverpool face dee...