Q: Is the world ready to embrace the new women's health agenda? A: The world still focuses very much on maternal health and, more recently, family planning, which definitely reflect critical needs. The predominant view today is still of women as reproductive beings, which unfortunately leads to neglect of women's health in other stages of life. The focus on noncommunicable diseases has been growing since the 2011 United Nations General Assembly declaration, but these diseases do not receive the attention they deserve. Women's non-reproductive health is becoming important as a public health issue, mainly due to population ageing and changing lifestyles, but health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are not prepared to deal with the double burden of disease among women. Q: What double burden is that? A: On the one hand, countries must address the unfinished business of sexual and reproductive health problems, malnutrition, HIV and other infectious diseases and gender-related issues, like gender-based violence and other forms of discrimination against women. On the other hand, countries must also tackle the emerging epidemic of chronic diseases. Governments are not focused explicitly on chronic diseases or allocating enough resources to deal with them. It seems that donors are not prepared to invest in the prevention, detection and treatment of chronic diseases affecting women unless more progress is made in the unfinished agenda of reproductive health. Very few researchers are working on the women's epidemic of chronic diseases in low- and middle-income countries or on the link between old and new diseases, which is important but badly neglected. Q: What is that link? A: Women face a myriad of problems in their post-reproduction years, some resulting from their reproductive health history and others that are unrelated to it. So, for instance, women may face chronic morbidities, such as obstetric fistula, pelvic pain and incontinence as a result of their pregnancies. These problems are more common in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in places where fertility is high and women do not have access to good quality health care for pregnancy and delivery. More than 80% of cervical cancer cases are due to infection with the human papillomavirus, which is acquired through sexual activity. Breast cancer incidence is growing, particularly in developing countries. This disease has a link with a woman's reproductive history, as the age at first pregnancy, number of pregnancies and breastfeeding history can increase or reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Finally, women who are obese have more complications during pregnancy and delivery. Some research suggests that the maternal mortality ratio in the United States of America (USA), which is high for a developed country, is associated with the high prevalence of obesity in the US, which also increases the risk of gestational diabetes and of chronic diabetes later in life. In developed and developing countries, the combination of obesity and high rates of Caesarean section is the perfect storm to increase maternal morbidity and mortality because surgery is riskier in women who are obese. Q: What other non-reproductive health problems do women face? A: Many chronic problems are not specific to women, although some do have links with health during pregnancy. As mentioned, obesity and diabetes affect both men and women, but the risks of developing Type II diabetes are higher among women with a history of gestational diabetes. Mental health problems, depression and anxiety-related disorders in particular, are more common among women, and some researchers believe that postpartum depression is just another manifestation of chronic depression. All over the world eating disorders represent a very important but almost invisible problem that affects mainly young women. Other problems were once more common among men but are rapidly growing among women. …