19 Sep Scientific Highlight – 16th ESC Congress
Petra De Sutter, Belgium
Prof. Petra De Sutter is a Belgian Member of the European Parliament for the Flemish Green party and chair of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. She is a professor in gynecology, specialized in infertility treatment. Throughout her political career, De Sutter has put health and human rights higher on the political agenda, with a particular focus on sexual and reproductive rights for women and girls.
Let’s talk about Europe: how is Europe dealing with holistic approach of women’s health?
While women in Europe are living longer and healthier lives than decades ago, there are still many challenges for women’s health on our continent. There are large inequalities among women within and between countries in Europe. In particular, access to sexual and reproductive health goods and services varies significantly across European countries.
To address today’s challenges to women’s health, we need an holistic approach that also looks at policies that lie outside the healthcare system. Within this lecture, Petra De Sutter will therefore focus on the underlying societal and political factors that affect women’s health in Europe. She will focus in particular on the ultra-conservative tendencies that are currently on the rise in Europe, with several right-wing figures opposing the feminist agenda. To better protect and advance women’s health and rights, she urges all progressive European policymakers to advance a rights-based gender equality more proactively.