The White House continues its effort to advance women’s health with a series of initiatives. After the launch of a women’s health research initiative in November and a subsequent announcement of a $100 million investment in February, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that aims to distribute $12 billion towards improving women’s health research and innovation. This has been met with widespread support from multiple women’s health executives.
Anu Sharma, founder and CEO of the maternal health company Millie, lauds this as a significant stride towards alleviating the existing disparities in women’s healthcare. This sentiment is further echoed by Monica Cepak, CEO of the sexual health company WISP, who backed the administration’s areas of focus for additional research and funding.
On examining the executive order, it incorporates several directives:
- Improvement of research and data standards on women’s health by the initiative’s constituent agencies.
- Prioritization of funding for women’s health research and innovation by the constituent agencies.
- Improvement of data collection for women’s midlife health by the Health and Human Services (HHS), release of a research agenda for future investments in menopause research, and enhancement of the treatment of menopause-related issues among others.
- Identification of funding gaps in women’s health research and necessary changes to support the broad scope of women’s health research through coordination between the Office of Management and Budget and the Gender Policy Council.
In concert with Biden’s executive order, more than 20 new actions have been undertaken by the federal agencies, including a $200 million investment toward interdisciplinary women’s health research by the National Institutes of Health.
In support, Dr. Suzette Glasner, Chief Scientific Officer of substance use management company Pelago and a UCLA Researcher, emphasized how vital it is to improve care for women with substance use disorders. She indicated that there is an urgent need for funding to address gaps in our understanding and resources targeting the unique needs of women with such disorders.