New Delhi, March 7 (IANS): India's health workforce must be trained to be gender sensitive, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday on the eve of International Women's Day, March 8.

"To achieve health for all people, we must promote and protect the health of women and girls throughout life, not just during the reproductive phase. A healthy, empowered girl child grows up to be a healthy woman. A healthy mother creates a healthy family and a healthy nation," WHO regional director for South- East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in a statement.

She added that to realise this vision, women must get equal access to quality and affordable health services.

"This means that our health workforce must be trained and sensitised to be gender sensitive. Health services and interventions need to be designed to meet women's needs. Only then will we be able to achieve women-centred integrated services and universal health coverage," she added.

"On this day, let us together envision a world where women have equal access to health care and are empowered to make informed choices about their health; a world where women get equal opportunities, equal representation and equal pay as leaders, parliamentarians and workers," she said.

"Women have excelled in all areas of work and hold leadership positions in organisations while continuing to be homemakers and nurturers. And yet, according to the United Nations, they do not have equal rights and opportunities as men," Singh said.

"They continue to be victims of violence, making rape and domestic violence significant causes of women's disability and death worldwide," she added.