SWHR Launches Women’s Health Equity Initiative at 2022 Gala
Monday, May 9, 2022 – The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) launched the new Women’s Health Equity Initiative during its Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, April 28, 2022. President and CEO Kathryn G. Schubert introduced the need for the initiative by saying, “Women play a unique role in our health care system, not just as patients, but also as caregivers, health care providers, researchers, health policymakers, and health entrepreneurs and innovators; women are America’s chief medical officers.”
The Women’s Health Equity Initiative highlights statistics on women’s health in the United States and aims to engage communities on solutions to improve health equity across multiple disease states, conditions, and life stages.
Central to the initiative’s founding is the reality that women in the United States experience health disparities throughout their lifespans as a result of their gender, historic health inequities in the health care system, and socioeconomic conditions. Sixteen percent of women report fair or poor health status, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and these percentages are even higher among women of color, including 23% of Native American women, 22% of Hispanic women, and 20% of Black women.
“The Women’s Health Equity Initiative is core to SWHR’s mission of improving women’s health through science, policy, and education, and it reflects the critical need to ensure that health conversations include the topics of care access, disparities, and health equity,” said Schubert. “While women have historically been left out of medical research, they have also been left to bear an extremely high brunt of our national health disparity burden. We hope that by bringing attention to these topics, we can inspire solutions that improve health equity for women across the country, regardless of region, age, condition, and more.”
The first phase of the initiative is focused on Alzheimer’s disease, bone health, maternal health, and menopause, all diseases or life stages which present different or disproportionate health care disparities for women. SWHR created a unique roadmap, a set of health fact sheets, and a series of video testimonials featuring caregivers, patients, and clinicians, to showcase these health disparities in populations across the United States and highlight opportunities for solutions.
SWHR plans to add additional disease states, life stages, and issues to the initiative in the future. Through this initiative, SWHR is working to end women’s health disparities based on age, race, ethnicity, geography, and among caregivers.
SWHR continues to seek sponsors and health care stakeholders interested in supporting the Women’s Health Equity initiative, which is an extension of SWHR’s work to make women’s health mainstream. Please reach out to the Development Team at development@swhr.org to learn more about partnering.
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About SWHR
The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) is a national nonprofit and thought leader dedicated to promoting research on biological sex differences in disease and improving women’s health through science, policy, and education. Founded in 1990 by a group of physicians, medical researchers, and health advocates, SWHR is making women’s health mainstream by addressing unmet needs and research gaps in women’s health. Thanks to SWHR’s efforts, women are now routinely included in most major medical research studies and more scientists are considering sex as a biological variable in their research. Visit www.swhr.org for more information.
Monday, May 9, 2022 – The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) launched the new Women’s Health Equity Initiative during its Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, April 28, 2022. President and CEO Kathryn G. Schubert introduced the need for the initiative by saying, “Women play a unique role in our health care system, not just as patients, but also as caregivers, health care providers, researchers, health policymakers, and health entrepreneurs and innovators; women are America’s chief medical officers.”
The Women’s Health Equity Initiative highlights statistics on women’s health in the United States and aims to engage communities on solutions to improve health equity across multiple disease states, conditions, and life stages.
Central to the initiative’s founding is the reality that women in the United States experience health disparities throughout their lifespans as a result of their gender, historic health inequities in the health care system, and socioeconomic conditions. Sixteen percent of women report fair or poor health status, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and these percentages are even higher among women of color, including 23% of Native American women, 22% of Hispanic women, and 20% of Black women.
“The Women’s Health Equity Initiative is core to SWHR’s mission of improving women’s health through science, policy, and education, and it reflects the critical need to ensure that health conversations include the topics of care access, disparities, and health equity,” said Schubert. “While women have historically been left out of medical research, they have also been left to bear an extremely high brunt of our national health disparity burden. We hope that by bringing attention to these topics, we can inspire solutions that improve health equity for women across the country, regardless of region, age, condition, and more.”
The first phase of the initiative is focused on Alzheimer’s disease, bone health, maternal health, and menopause, all diseases or life stages which present different or disproportionate health care disparities for women. SWHR created a unique roadmap, a set of health fact sheets, and a series of video testimonials featuring caregivers, patients, and clinicians, to showcase these health disparities in populations across the United States and highlight opportunities for solutions.
SWHR plans to add additional disease states, life stages, and issues to the initiative in the future. Through this initiative, SWHR is working to end women’s health disparities based on age, race, ethnicity, geography, and among caregivers.
SWHR continues to seek sponsors and health care stakeholders interested in supporting the Women’s Health Equity initiative, which is an extension of SWHR’s work to make women’s health mainstream. Please reach out to the Development Team at development@swhr.org to learn more about partnering.
###
About SWHR
The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) is a national nonprofit and thought leader dedicated to promoting research on biological sex differences in disease and improving women’s health through science, policy, and education. Founded in 1990 by a group of physicians, medical researchers, and health advocates, SWHR is making women’s health mainstream by addressing unmet needs and research gaps in women’s health. Thanks to SWHR’s efforts, women are now routinely included in most major medical research studies and more scientists are considering sex as a biological variable in their research. Visit www.swhr.org for more information.