SWHR Submits Comments to Inform ORWH Women’s Health Consensus Conference
The Society for Women’s Health Research this week submitted comments in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) Request for Information: Inviting Comments to Inform the Women’s Health Consensus Conference (WHCC).
The WHCC, which will take place in October 2021, is a congressionally mandated conference, with the goal of addressing NIH research efforts related to women’s health research and three specific topics: rising maternal morbidity and mortality rates, the increasing rates of chronic debilitating conditions in women, and stagnant cervical cancer survival rates.
Within its comments, SWHR discussed high-level structural considerations for ORWH as well as potential areas of research across the specified topics of maternal morbidity and mortality, chronic conditions, and cervical cancer.
For the high-level considerations, SWHR noted the variability within current definitions of women’s health research and the need for a methodology for properly defining women’s health research to provide greater insight into the true state of women’s health research across the federal government. SWHR also emphasized the importance of ensuring research efforts are representative of the patient population.
Within its discussion on the three specified priority areas, SWHR cited several gaps and unmet needs in research that were identified during various interdisciplinary roundtable discussions with public health professionals, researchers, patient advocates, and health care providers touching conditions, including autoimmune skin conditions, uterine fibroids, osteoarthritis, endometriosis, and cervical cancer. Additionally, as part of its discussion on maternal morbidity and mortality, SWHR encouraged ORWH to examine how incorporating the recommendations of the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant and Lactating Women (PRGLAC) and supporting their implementation could further research in this area.
Finally, SWHR recognized in its comments that while there are tremendous research needs associated with the three identified areas of maternal morbidity and mortality, chronic conditions, and cervical cancer, the concentration on these areas may inadvertently shift the focus from other, equally important areas of research on conditions that are unique to or that differently or disproportionately affect women. SWHR encouraged ORWH to broaden its focus to incorporate a lifespan approach and to consider the full continuum of research—from basic to clinical to public and population health research.
Read SWHR’s full comments here.
The Society for Women’s Health Research this week submitted comments in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) Request for Information: Inviting Comments to Inform the Women’s Health Consensus Conference (WHCC).
The WHCC, which will take place in October 2021, is a congressionally mandated conference, with the goal of addressing NIH research efforts related to women’s health research and three specific topics: rising maternal morbidity and mortality rates, the increasing rates of chronic debilitating conditions in women, and stagnant cervical cancer survival rates.
Within its comments, SWHR discussed high-level structural considerations for ORWH as well as potential areas of research across the specified topics of maternal morbidity and mortality, chronic conditions, and cervical cancer.
For the high-level considerations, SWHR noted the variability within current definitions of women’s health research and the need for a methodology for properly defining women’s health research to provide greater insight into the true state of women’s health research across the federal government. SWHR also emphasized the importance of ensuring research efforts are representative of the patient population.
Within its discussion on the three specified priority areas, SWHR cited several gaps and unmet needs in research that were identified during various interdisciplinary roundtable discussions with public health professionals, researchers, patient advocates, and health care providers touching conditions, including autoimmune skin conditions, uterine fibroids, osteoarthritis, endometriosis, and cervical cancer. Additionally, as part of its discussion on maternal morbidity and mortality, SWHR encouraged ORWH to examine how incorporating the recommendations of the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant and Lactating Women (PRGLAC) and supporting their implementation could further research in this area.
Finally, SWHR recognized in its comments that while there are tremendous research needs associated with the three identified areas of maternal morbidity and mortality, chronic conditions, and cervical cancer, the concentration on these areas may inadvertently shift the focus from other, equally important areas of research on conditions that are unique to or that differently or disproportionately affect women. SWHR encouraged ORWH to broaden its focus to incorporate a lifespan approach and to consider the full continuum of research—from basic to clinical to public and population health research.
Read SWHR’s full comments here.