The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) this month submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026. The Strategic Plan shares how the Department will achieve its mission through five strategic goals: 1) Protect and Strengthen Equitable Access to High Quality and Affordable Health Care, 2) Safeguard and Improve National and Global Health Conditions and Outcomes, 3) Strengthen Social Well-being, Equity, and Economic Resilience, 4) Restore Trust and Accelerate Advancements in Science and Research for All, and 5) Advance Strategic Management to Build Trust, Transparency, and Accountability.
In its comments, SWHR noted its appreciation of the Department’s commitment to accelerating advancements in science and research and for taking steps to ensure that both the research enterprise and the scientific workforce are equipped with the tools, resources, capacity, and perspectives needed to produce better outcomes for all Americans.
SWHR’s comments focused on Strategic Goal 4, Restore Trust and Accelerate Advancements in Science and Research for All. Specifically, SWHR encouraged HHS to build upon the interaction and collaboration between the various offices of women’s health at HHS; consider how the intersectional influences of race, ethnicity, and gender—along with other demographic factors—can create compounding barriers for individuals in the scientific workforce; and improve data collection so that researchers can explore how different factors, including sex, may impact health outcomes across populations. Additionally, SWHR commended HHS, in its call to better understand the unique and common needs of certain sub-groups, for including pregnant populations, to whom not enough attention has been paid in research.
Read SWHR’s full comments here.