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Evidence about Health and Health Care

Issues of health and health care evidence are important for women not only because evidence can influence women’s decisions about their health and their family’s health, but also because evidence should inform policy and practice decisions about health care reform. Contrary to widespread belief evidence is never value-free. Decisions are made about the ways in which research questions are defined, how research is conducted, analyzed and presented by real people with particular interests, beliefs and investments. This means that it is important for women to learn how to read and question evidence that is presented to them every day.

Because women are not all the same, changes to the health care system may variously affect the health, well-being and work of particular groups of women. This means that when evidence is used by decision-makers in the development and implementation of health care reforms, women need to question what is being counted as evidence, whose perspective and experience is being counted, if the differing contexts of women’s lives are being considered, and which women’s needs are being included and excluded.

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