Rural Women's Health

Abstract

Rural women in Australia have reduced access to health and illness-management services, live in more hazardous environments, and yet describe themselves as healthier than urban women. These contradictions illustrate some of the consequences of different ways of measuring health. Data based on presentations to hospital for episodes of illness management, within a conceptual framework of biomedicine which has been developed with little input from women, presents one picture of the health of a community. Data based on asking women what is going on provides another picture. These different pictures highlight the distinction between health and illness management. This article introduces the reader to rural culture, considers some of the epidemiological evidence about the presentation of illness and mortality for rural women, summarises the outcomes of research and consultations with women, and concludes by making recommendations about effective ways to enhance rural women's health through service delivery.