MANILA, Philippines - Women, observes Dr. Florante P. Gonzaga of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Medical City, will save for the education of their children, but not for their own medical care.

?If they do, it?s treatment that they have in mind and not preventive measures,? the doctor adds. ?The concept of proper nutrition and adult vaccinations is still quite poor in this country. There are many educated women who are not vaccinated against flu and HPV diseases.?

Although Gonzaga doesn?t agree that women are more susceptible to diseases because of the way their bodies are constructed, he believes that many Filipino women neglect their health because of cultural, social and economic factors. There are also those who take unnecessary health risks despite having had a good education.

Indeed, in the Philippines as in most cultures, women?s health has been known to take a back seat to the needs of the family. When money is tight, the woman of the house ends up eating only her husband?s and children?s leftovers to conserve limited resources. She takes the children for their medical check ups conscientiously, but has probably never seen a doctor for her own aches and pains in a long time. Since most Asians are lactose-intolerant, a lot of Filipino women are not big milk drinkers, a habit that could adversely affect a woman?s bones, making her prone to fractures and osteoporosis.

Recent trends in beauty, with their emphasis on slim silhouettes at all cost, have also wreaked havoc on women?s health, putting them at risk with unhealthy fad diets, slimming teas and pills, and unsafe cosmetic procedures.

Even the current obsession with flawless white skin has pushed many women to try all sorts of whitening lotions or pills without studying the substances? long term effects on their bodies.

Poverty has always been behind a lot of health risks that women face regularly. With their limited education, poor women are often unaware of how successive and frequent pregnancies can be taxing on their bodies. Worse, they have little or no access to reproductive health care nor to contraception and information on how to regulate their fertility. In most instances, too, they put up with domestic violence because reporting it could mean losing the family breadwinner to jail and jeopardizing the children?s needs.

Given all these social factors, women are vulnerable to certain health risks during particular ages or stages:

Ages 20-29: Women are most likely to be sexually active at this stage, and thus face health threats from the Genital Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that is responsible for most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts. Genital HPV is a common virus passed on through genital contact, most often during sex. Most sexually active people will get HPV at some time in their lives, though most will never even know it. It is most common in people in their late teens and early 20s. These are the ages targeted for a vaccine that prevents certain types of HPV.

Ages 30-39: More women plan their pregnancies a little later than usual because of career or economic reasons. At this stage, women may face such problems as infertility, endometriosis, perimenopause symptoms, high risk pregnancies, and high incidence of children born with defects

Ages 40-50: Women might start having problems related to menopause, such as hot flashes and urogenital complaints. Women must protect themselves from the late effects of estrogen loss and undergo regular test-advised mammogram, pap smears, bone density scan and blood pressure monitoring.

This is also the time to get a Lipid Profile, which looks at all kinds of fat―whether good or bad--that we?ve stored in our body. It would also be wise to have Fasting Blood Sugar screens for type 2 diabetes, and a Liver Function Test to measure enzymes that signal liver damage.

If you have a family history of autoimmune disease or have symptoms of chronic joint pain and fatigue, an Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and Rheumatoid factor (RF) may be requested. Statistics say that 15-20 percent of women aged 50 up tend to have an underactive thyroid. Thus a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) test should be done at least every five years. Since cancer is said to be predominant in more mature age groups, it is wise to get cancer screening: for the Breast, CA15-3; Ovary, : CA125; Colon, CA19-9; Pancreas, CA72-4

Ages 55-60: Osteoporosis, vertebra and hip fractures are the usual health risks at this stage.

Ages 70 above: At this stage, most women are at risk of Alzheimers disease and cognitive decline. Doctors have also noted an increase in breast cancer and diabetes related to obesity and osteoporosis in this age group.