The adage states it is not about the destination, but rather the journey.
And for Poplar Bluff native Kanwal Haq, it has been quite the adventure.
Haq — who now lives in New York — has co-authored a women’s health book: “Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health,” which is set for an Oct. 4 public release.
She leads the New York City women’s health programs at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. Prior to joining Icahn School of Medicine, Kanwal worked at Yale School of Medicine, and completed fellowships at the United Nations, AmeriCorps, and The University Teaching Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Kanwal completed her bachelor’s in biological sciences from the University of Missouri and her master’s in medical anthropology from Boston University School of Medicine.
Haq graduated from Poplar Bluff High School before attending the University of Missouri.
From there, she went to study in Rwanda during college, and live and work in New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut.
Why did Hag write the book?
“Initially my co-author, Dr. Mary’ O’Connor, and I had our own personal experiences with health care that got us talking about women’s health. We worked, lived, and breathed in a medical environment but kept seeing firsthand that women do not get the same care as men,” Haq said. “So, we started thinking about what we could do to change this. We concluded that too often, as academics, we spend a lot of time thinking about problems, dissecting them, but not as much time creating real-time solutions to fix those problems.
“So, we wrote this book not as a medical textbook, but as a practical guide to help women understand health challenges they may frequently encounter. We want this book to be a tool that is in every family’s ‘medicine cabinet’ and can be a starting point to help women through different points of their life. We hope that it is a book that is passed around from daughter to mother, to sister, to aunt, to grandmother — an essential resource for every woman, and those who love her.”
Since the book is more of a guide than a traditional piece of non-fiction, the process deviated from the norm, she said.
“We wanted to create an easy-to-use resource, something you could just pick off the shelf and turn to the page you were looking for. What came to mind was similar to a kitchen recipe book,” Haq said. “Recipes are usually templated with six sections: the ingredients, the prep time, the cook time, the number of servings, the directions, and the chef’s notes.
“Similarly, most of the chapters in our book are templated with six sections: what is the condition, how can the condition be prevented, how is the condition treated, why the condition matters to women, questions to ask your health care team about the condition, and pearls of wisdom from an expert.
“Since Mary and I are not experts on every health topic, we searched across the country and brought together 111 additional brilliant women, all of whom are experts on specific topics and conditions, who contributed to the book. Just like a recipe book, you can also read it in any order, and just read what you need, when you need it.”
At the current time, Haq said, there are more options on the bookshelves regarding men’s health compared to that for women, which also inspired the book.
“Women and men are different. The ways in which certain conditions are manifested, experienced, and treated in women are different from men. What works best for a man might not work best for a woman. Yet, much of how health and medicine are practiced today is based upon what works for an average man,” Haq said. “Before 1993, females didn’t need to be included in clinical trials and before 2016, females didn’t need to be included in laboratory studies.
“Most medications we use today were tested in males, (and) most medications that have been removed from the shelves in the last 20 years were removed because they (medications) were causing harm to women. Today, even though women must be included in research studies, research reports don’t usually show the findings for men versus women, and this leaves us with giant gaps in understanding what works, and for whom.”
Why has the female gender been forced to catch up regarding health care?
“I work in health care, but when I started the research for this book, I was equally surprised to find out that, (first) when it comes to many non-reproductive/maternal health-related conditions, we really left half the population behind because so many of these conditions impact women more than men or differently than men (this includes topics like mental health issues, breast cancer, to heart disease, to vaccinations, to much more,” Haq said. “(Secondly), most of these non-reproductive/maternal health-related conditions and their corresponding treatments were never tailored to women. Finally, even though women now have to be included in research, that doesn’t mean the “unisex” approach fits women.
“We all know when the Poplar Bluff Mules t-shirts only come in unisex size, the girls always must tie knots or cut their shirts to make them fit slightly better. It’s a lot more pleasant when the shirts fit us, same with medicine.
“We can change this trend by women taking a more active role in their health care, feeling comfortable communicating with their health care team, asking questions, voicing concerns, being a part of the medical decision-making process, and getting involved in research that is working to change things for women.”
In the book, readers will find the following topics: sleep health, Muscular Sclerosis, knee osteoarthritis, depression, and searching for and evaluating online health information.
The book will be available via Amazon, Target, Walmart and Barnes & Noble.