A lot of the links we were supposed to chose from weren’t working for me, so in this case, I just picked the first one that popped up that worked.

Women in certain parts of the world have a tough time when it comes to issues that arise involving their health. Gender norms tend to affect this as well. According to the World Health Organization (2014), some women have trouble getting to places such as health clinics as their culture does not allow for women to walk alone.  The case study I chose; State of the Art Report Health Risks in Aquifer Recharge Using Reclaimed Water is a list of health risks that comes with reclaiming and reusing water. “Viruses are the smallest infectious agents. They come in different shapes and vary in size from 0.01 to 0.3 m in diameter. Viruses consist of either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleicacid (RNA), surrounded by a layer of protein, which may in turn be surrounded by a lipid membrane.” Viruses and bacteria in some water can be small but can cause various health issues. If women were to be affected by such health issues, and their cultures become part of what keeps them from treatment, it puts them at the hand of nature in a sense.

The rise in climate change often produces warmer water and climates and within these conditions the risk of malaria rises in certain countries. Women are often more affected than men in these cases as they can often produce more body heat than men. “The study also found that the abdomen of pregnant women was on average 0.7 °C hotter than that of non-pregnant women and that there may be an increase in the release of volatile substances from the skin surface and a larger host signature that allows mosquitoes to detect them more readily at close range.” (World Health Organization, 2014). It’s interesting that a natural state for women becomes something that can have an affect on them in cases such as malaria. In third world countries, often times males are more valued than females, this means that they may become the ones who received things such as food and water along with medical care.

References:

Aertgeerts, R., & Angelakis, A. (2003). State of the Art Report Health Risks in Aquifer Recharge Using Reclaimed Water. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

World Health Organization (2014). Gender, Health, and Climate Change Retrieved from http://www.who.int/globalchange/GenderClimateChangeHealthfinal.pdf