a recent survey on womens health across five countries including india has confirmed what weve known all along that wealth and wellbeing go hand in hand it reports that 98 of those who are financially secure claim to actively pursue a sense of wellbeing compared to the 65 in lower income groups the study titled womens health and wellbeing evolving definitions and practices covered 453 women and 100 public officials across india brazil mexico france and germanythe recently released survey was sponsored by the consumer health division of pharmaceutical company merck and conducted by the economist intelligence unit the project looked specifically at womens responses to goals on health and wellbeing the notion of wellbeing included factors other than physical health worklife balance education and skills income social connections civil engagement personal security housing environmental quality and subjective wellbeing by dint of its method of datacollection via online questionnaires the survey preselects a middleandhigherclass sample at least in the indian contextin an attempt to extend the horizons of personal health to holistic wellbeing a sustainable development goal the survey tried to understand what wellbeing meant to women across cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds to 64 of the respondents wellbeing was associated with feeling healthy and physically fit a correlation made by 74 of public officials who work on government programmes aimed at womens health and wellbeing they conflated lack of illness with wellness discounting social or psychological pressures as inhibitors to holistic healththen again 23 said feeling well was feeling optimistic about their own future as well as that of their family an association made by only 3 of public officials this mismatch between the perception of women and policymakers around wellness suggests how health policies can be better calibratedthe survey revealed a further incongruity between the kind of health programmes desired by women and what was officially on offer 48 said theyd like programmes related to hobbies and cultural activities but 73 of health officials rooted for illness prevention programmes women are often the caretakers of their families and educate them on health and wellbeing said uta kemmerichkeil ceo of mercks consumer health business they also represent the majority of professionals in health care occupations so they have the broadest impact on improving health and wellbeing in our societiesthe survey showed that women in india 95 and brazil 86 claimed to be most active in trying to ensure asense of personal wellbeing they defined wellbeing as the avoidance of unhealthy activities like smoking or drinking rather than a proactive commitment to exercise or a healthy diet the survey also found a gap between womens stated practice of healthy living and the actual fact brazilian women spent more heavily on beauty products and treatments than on their health showing that beauty overrode health wellbeing apparently includes building and maintaining good family relations vital to emotional stabilityhowever sanghita bhattarcharya senior public health specialist at the public health foundation of india a participant in eius interview programme pointed out that