Antonina Ostrowska

Poland belongs to European countries characterized by the highest mortality of women caused by cervical cancer – neoplasm that is fully curable if early enough detected.
It happens so despite of several, broadly designed prevention actions addressed to women, encouraging them to participate in preventive screenings. All these actions particularly fail among women from lower social strata, especially living in poverty. The question is therefore, what are the main obstacles behind this behavior? What is the cause of their reluctance to prevention of the life threatening disease, even if it is not related to any expenses? The article tries to answer these questions looking for the answer among structural and socio-cultural variables influencing women’s approach to health and disease. Presented research results demonstrate problems of gynecological prevention among women threatened with social exclusion.

The article presents selected research results on differences in self assessed state of health and the role of social class related psychosocial factors that may be responsible for health inequalities. Among discussed variables are: differences in lifestyles, health care utilization patterns and perceived access to health care and social support network. Their relative value to predict health differences is weighted against the role of social position indicators. The empirical base for considering above issues is the representative study of Warsaw inhabitants conducted in 2004.

The results of several epidemiological and clinical studies document male – female health differences. Apart from biological divergence, they reflect differences in social status of both sexes, their social roles and elements of life styles. The above indicates the necessity of discussing the health problems of men and women also separately. The article presents main characteristic of women’s health in Poland, with special stress put on chronic diseases causing their excess mortality and leading to disability. The text is based on a broader report “Polish Women 2013 – Health and its threats.”