Respectful healthcare for women
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Written by experienced doctors, midwives and other medical professionals – and approved by a specialist Editorial Board
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Enhancing the Welfare of Women
Expert Health Information for Women
Respectful Healthcare for Women
Respectful healthcare is important for all people but it is especially important for women and girls.
One of the most important parts of a healthcare worker’s job is to provide respectful healthcare to you.
This video will explain the ways in which you should be treated by all healthcare workers at all times.
Every single woman and girl around the world has a right to life and should get emergency, life-saving treatment.
Your faith, race, culture, beliefs or the amount of money you have should not affect the treatment you get.
Decisions about your treatment should be based on the most up-to-date medical information.
You have the right to make decisions about your own health and have control over your body.
These decisions should be made by you. Other people can help you make decisions but they should not force you into making a decision.
Nothing should ever be done to your body that you do not agree to and healthcare workers should always ask for your permission, also called consent, before anything is done to you.
You should always be spoken to and treated in a kind and respectful way by healthcare workers. This includes helping you if you are in pain.
No one is allowed to make you feel uncomfortable or say cruel things. No one is allowed to touch you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, or be violent towards you or hurt you.
Everyone has the right to equal treatment and freedom from discrimination.
When you are making decisions about your health, you have a right to all of the important information about your health and your choices and this should be given to you in a way that you can understand.
You should be given this before you have to make a decision.
Doctors should diagnose conditions and recommend treatment, but they should never force you to make decisions you do not want to make.
The decisions that you make should be respected, and you always have a right to say no.
Your right to make decisions about your health and body includes making decisions about the number of children you have and when you have your children.
You should get support and information to help you make the right decision for you.
You have a right to privacy. When you are having an appointment or examination, this should happen in a private space.
Healthcare workers should respect your wishes, and your cultural and religious beliefs.
Healthcare workers should behave in a way that is respectful and keeps your dignity.
Any information you share with your healthcare worker should be confidential.
This means your information should never be shared with anyone, except when medically necessary or when you have said that it is OK.
You have the right to the best possible physical and mental health treatment.
This should be given in good time, and the space should be clean and safe.
Your healthcare worker should be properly trained.
You have a right to freedom and self-determination.
This means that no one is allowed to stop you from leaving a healthcare facility if you choose, even if you cannot pay for the healthcare that you have had.
Every woman and girl around the world deserves respectful care.
You should always be able to make your own decisions and have control over your body, feel safe and be treated with kindness.
You should always be able to make your own decisions and have control over your body, feel safe and be treated with kindness.
The authors of this RESPECTFUL HEALTHCARE FOR WOMEN program are:
- Dr Madeleine Upham – Final Year Medical Student
Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Liverpool, UK - Dr Kate Lightly, Honorary Clinical Research Fellow
Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Liverpool, UK
The Welfare of Women program has been created under the General Editorship of Dr Kate Lightly, University of Liverpool, UK and is overseen by an expert International Editorial Board
The cost of producing this resource has been partly funded by an educational grant from GSK
