Biden announces executive actions to expand research on women’s health
President Biden announced executive actions Monday to expand the federal government’s research into women’s health, including midlife conditions such as menopause, arthritis and heart disease, as well as issues that specifically affect women in the military.
In what the White House described as the “most comprehensive” action by a president on women’s health research, Mr. Biden will sign an executive order on Monday directing federal agencies to ensure that they keep federal funds use for research into health problems and diseases that disproportionately impact women’s health care. women. The actions come after Mr. Biden said late last year that the first lady, Jill Biden, would spearhead an initiative to address the underrepresentation of women in health research.
“For far too long, women’s health research has been underfunded and underresearched,” said Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure, psychologist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine who chairs the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. “We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide range of health problems in women.”
Dr. Mazure said these conditions could include heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease or fibroids. Dr. Biden has been traveling the country to learn about such disparities and “the groundbreaking research that is possible when we invest in women’s health,” said Dr. Mazure.
After the Supreme Court ruled Roe vs. Wade in 2022 and an Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos should be considered children, threatening in vitro fertilization, the Biden campaign has increasingly accused Republicans of undermining women’s health . During his State of the Union address earlier this month, Mr Biden said such decisions would motivate women to vote in the November election, while also saying his White House would be committed to investing in health in the coming year of women.
“Women make up more than half of our population, but research on women’s health has always been underfunded,” Biden said as he called on Congress to pass a plan to invest $12 billion to create a new fund for research into women’s health at the National Institutes. of health. In the meantime, the executive order signed Monday will direct the NIH to spend $200 million on women’s health research. Dr. Biden traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, last month to announce the first step of the Women’s Health Initiative: $100 million to support female health researchers and start-up companies.
Mr. Biden’s executive order will require agencies to report annually on their investments in women’s health research and explore ways in which artificial intelligence can be used to advance such research. The NIH will increase investments in small businesses focused on women’s health by 50 percent. The Department of Defense also plans to invest $10 million to learn more about cancer and mental health issues facing women in active military service.