Women’s health in the news
From local news to global conversations and groundbreaking research, health care is constantly evolving and highly covered in the media. Here, we share the latest news and trends – and how they drive our work to best serve our communities and members.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced a White House initiative to improve how the federal government approaches and funds research into the health of women. Even with women making up more than half of the U.S. population, they remain understudied and underrepresented in health research.
That underrepresentation can lead to big gaps in research and potentially serious consequences for the health of women. The gender gap in health research funding exists even when it comes to diseases that disproportionately affect women. For example, only 12% of Alzheimer’s disease research goes to projects focused on women, even though women make up about two-thirds of all Alzheimer’s patients. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, yet women are still underrepresented in most clinical cardiology trials.
The White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research will be led by first lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council. President Biden has ordered Initiative members to report back within 45 days with “concrete recommendations” to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of women’s health issues. He also asked them to set “priority areas of focus,” such as research ranging from heart attacks in women to menopause, where additional investments could be “transformative.”
This national commitment to how women’s health research is approached and funded is likely to improve health outcomes for women on a local level.