Sobering trends show that more Batswana girls and women are having trouble meeting their basic needs. This is consistent with United Nations (U.N) studies showing that women experienced increased food insecurity during the pandemic, which exacerbates mental health issues. Because of their strong correlations with a lower standard of living, welfare and poverty, these trends will be extremely essential to watch in the years to come. The growing disparities in economic outcomes for many Batswana women demand focus as the Covid-19 pandemic begins to show some signs of abating.
The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index reveals that Batswana women are having difficulty paying for basic needs like food and shelter. This index assesses five important aspects of women’s health that, when taken together, account for 80% of the variation in women’s life expectancy at birth. Women worldwide performed worse on the Basic Needs component in 2021 (with a score of 66) than 68 in 2020. The Basic Needs dimension of the Index ranked the majority of women from industrialized nations at the top, while those from lower income nations performed worse.
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