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Danish women have far worse health than the men – study

Ambika Venkatesh
June 2nd, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

One of the highest female cancer rates in the world a major contributor to huge health gender gap

He’s missing something (photo: defenseimagery.mil)

Normally, Denmark does pretty well in studies – particularly if they concern gender equality or overall health.

However, if there is a chink in the armour, it invariably involves its poor cancer record, and now a new study from Manual reveals that its women are particularly vulnerable in this area.

Poor female cancer results
Of its study of 156 countries, Denmark has the sixth worst ranking for female cancer rates, with barely two-thirds surviving for more than five years after a diagnosis.

This partly explains why Danish men have much better health. They ranked at number 65 out of 156, 48 spots above Danish women (113), a gap that was the fifth biggest in the survey.

But while most gender gaps are in favour of women (59 percent), in Scandinavia, the men are far healthier, with Norwegian (57) and Swedish (48) women all trailing the men.

Sickest in Scandinavia
Manual, a men’s well-being platform, suggests that 45 percent of cancer cases are preventable in Denmark, where on average a third of the population get cancer during their lifetime.

Its survey assessed ten categories in total, including life expectancy, rates of diseases such as cancer and diabetes, obesity, mental health disorders and daily alcohol intake.

It drew attention to Norway’s high female smoking rate and Sweden’s high mental health disorder rate among young women to explain their large gaps. Finland, meanwhile, had a gap of just one place.

With a 62 ranking place difference, the Netherlands had the biggest gender health gap.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”