Above the Bikini: There ’s More to Women’s Health

While we  are (at least half of us) trying to make sense of the election and what it portends for all the issues we care about, there is an issue that we should all be concerned about that was never addressed by the President elect. Sec. Clinton did so on her website, but it  never came up in the debates or campaign ads and was never given any  visibility .  And that is women’s health. No not reproduction, contraception or choice, and while those are clearly  important  and under assault there are other womens health issues not addressed in the run up to this election that are important to all women regardless of ethnicity, age, or political orientation. When I founded the Society for Women’s Health Research in 1990 women and minorities were not routinely included in research thus results were based on men, usually young, white males. No one questioned at the time whether those results would apply to women as well. Clearly after the Institute of Medicine report that announced “every cell has a sex” and research needs to be done from”womb to tomb”. A change was necessary in how research was and is conducted to understand how prevention, diagnosis and treatment, including medications and devices may affect men and women and minorities differently. I am talking about differences in heart disease, depression and anxiety, sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s disease. In almost all conditions that affect both men and women there are sex and ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Election 2016 Health Women's Health Source Type: blogs