Women Warriors Deserve Better Health Care, Committee Says
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2008 – Women’s health issues often don’t draw much attention from policy makers and commanders in the 85-percent male U.S. forces. But a Defense Department committee is trying to change that.
Armed with a $500,000 budget, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services held focus group sessions in 2007 at 10 military bases with female troops of varying rank and combat experience. In an annual report released yesterday, the women’s committee depicted a U.S. military lacking infrastructure necessary to deal with gender-specific health concerns.
The most common health risk for deployed female servicemembers is urinary tract infection, the DACOWITS report said. Though both men and women can contract UTI, physiological differences make women much more vulnerable to UTIs than men.
“They’re out on these 10-hour convoys where there is nowhere for (women) to urinate,” said Mary Nelson, the chairwoman of DACOWITS. “They can’t stop the convoy and get out.”
To preempt a UTI that might be brought on by lengthy intervals between opportunities to urinate, some women reduce their fluid consumption. “Just when you should be drinking way more water, they’re drinking way less,” Nelson said during an interview this morning.
Ironically, reducing the amount of fluids in one’s body increases the likelihood of contracting a UTI. And in a an area of operations like Iraq, which once recorded a July temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit, the risk of dehydration spikes as fluid intake drops.
Nelson, who noted that conditions improve for women with every deployment, said women can receive antibiotics to treat UTIs while deployed. But the U.S. military frequently finds itself ill-equipped to deal with a range of other ailments contracted exclusively by female servicemembers.
“There are a number of things that they can’t find help for. So (women) are taken out of theater; they might be sent back to Ramstein,” she said, referring to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, which feeds Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. “If they have a problem with a Pap smear, they don’t have the field equipment there that they can use.”
Based on feedback from last year’s round of focus groups, DACOWITS has recommended that military medical screenings be retooled to include Pap smears and other women-specific assessments. The report also emphasizes the need for women to receive improved mental health care.
Nelson said that while some feminine health issues that arise in the field likely are unavoidable, other problems could be mitigated or avoided entirely by educating women before deploying.
“There are some things that can be addressed, and one of them is the kind of clothing they should wear,” she said. “Things like, ‘Wear cotton underwear, because you’re less likely to cause yeast infections.’”
During pre-deployment preparations, many female servicemembers also aren’t informed that certain types of birth control are ill-suited for conditions in theater, Nelson said.
“If you take the (birth control) patch, and you’re sweating all day, it’s not going to stay on,” she said. “There’s one form of birth control that needs to be refrigerated. Well, they don’t have the facilities.”
DACOWITS, started in 1951 by Defense Secretary George C. Marshall as a committee tasked with recruiting women for military service, has expanded its scope over the years. The committee now provides advice and recommendations on improving women’s experience in the armed forces.
In 2002, the committee’s purview extended to include family issues related to recruitment and retention. This year’s report advocates initiatives to enhance the satisfaction of military spouses -- the majority of whom are women -- which DACOWITS considers “a retention issue not to be ignored.”
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