President Biden signed a wide-ranging executive order supporting women's health research.
The announcement, made during Women's History Month, calls on the National Institutes of Health to invest $200 million in fiscal year 2025 in more than 20 new activities to address gaps in women's health research. ing.
This research focuses on health issues specific to women, including menopause, perimenopause, and endometriosis. It will also tackle heart attacks, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis – health conditions that women often experience after menopause – and expand resources for women to learn about treatment options.
This work is done through multiple departments, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Science Foundation.
“Women make up more than half of the population, but research on women's health continues to be underfunded,” Biden said in his State of the Union address. “That's why we're launching the first-ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, led by Jill, who is doing an incredible job as first lady.”
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This executive order comes after the November 2023 announcement of the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) commitment to invest $100 million in women's research. It was done.
The first lady is leading the effort, saying the need for medical research focused on women is long overdue. She said he will travel to Virginia and North Carolina on Wednesday to promote the White House's investments in women's health.
“Research on women's health has always been underfunded, and much medical research focuses on men while women are ignored. Much of the drug dosage, treatments, and medical school textbooks focus on men and their It's based on the body and that information doesn't always apply to women,'' Jill Biden said in her remarks about ARPA-H funding.
The order requires institutions to report on investments in women's health research to assess where gaps in funding exist.
The study also targets several specific communities. For example, it directs the U.S. Department of Defense to study menopause in military women and veterans. The study also included focus groups under the Indian Health Service to study American Indian and Alaska Native women's beliefs about menopause.
Biden also called on Congress to pass a $12 billion plan to increase funding for women's health research.
This order was issued in an election year where women's rights continue to drive discussion and discussion.
In addition to sharing this commitment to putting women first, Biden emphasized his support for Roe v. Wade in his State of the Union address and said reproductive rights will be a centerpiece of his 2024 turnout.
“It's clear that the people who are bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no idea about the power of women in America,” Biden said in his State of the Union address. “But they found out when reproductive freedom came up on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024.”
