“In spite of the importance of Medicaid to low-income women and their families, the voice of women’s health and women's advocacy groups has largely been absent, or ignored, in past Medicaid policy debates.” -National Women’s Law Center, The Medicaid Project, 2000, Read it

Fewer women of color have health insurance than white women. -National Women’s Law Center, Women and Health Insurance, 2003, Read it

The number of women in the United States who do not have insurance has grown three times faster than the number of men without health insurance over a five-year period. –National Women’s Law Center, Women and Health Insurance, 2003, Read it

Overall, 14% of women ages eighteen and over are uninsured, and a significant portion of uninsured women lack insurance that covers all of their health needs. –National Women’s Law Center , Women and Health Insurance, 2003, Read it

71% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries are low-income women. –National Women’s Law Center, The Medicaid Project, 2000, Read it

When institutions (e.g., hospitals, HMOs, employers) and individuals impose their beliefs on women, some health care services may be prohibited, including abortion, contraceptive services or counseling, emergency contraception (even in cases of rape), sterilization procedures, infertility treatment, counseling on the use of condoms to prevent the spread of STDs/HIV, research or treatment involving fetal or stem cells, and certain end-of-life care. –National Women’s Law Center, The Healthcare Religious Restrictions Project, 2000, Read it

For expert information:

Institute for Women's Policy Research
The Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement
National Women's Health Resource Center
National Women's Law Center (PDF, 255 KB)
Society for Women's Health Research

One in five girls says sex is presented as “something to fear and avoid” in their sex education. –Girls Incorporated, Girls and Sexual Health, 2001, Read it

Each year about 900,000 adolescent girls in the United States becomes pregnant, with 78% of these pregnancies unplanned. –Girls Incorporated, Girls and Sexual Activity, 2003, Read it

In 2003, five states considered bills that would have extended state health insurance to embryos and fetuses but not to pregnant women. None of these bills passed. –Center for Women Policy Studies, Fact Sheet on Recent Federal and State Threats to Women’s Reproductive Rights and Health, 2004, Read it

Pressure from religious fundamentalists has forced some governments to label emergency contraception (EC) as an abortifacient, or a pill used to induce abortion. Although there has been widespread acceptance of EC, many women are still being deprived of one of the safest and most effective preventative measures against unwanted pregnancy. –Center for Reproductive Rights, Governments Worldwide Put Emergency Contraception Into Women’s Hands: A Global Review of Laws and Policies, September 2004, Read it

The level of severe violence at clinics that provide abortion services intensified in 2002, with 23% of clinics reporting blockades, invasions, arsons, bombings, chemical attacks, stalking, gunfire, physical assasults, and/or threats, up from 20% in both 1999 and 2000. –Feminist Majority Foundation (K.A. Lonsway, J. Jackman, E. Koenig, J. Leader, P. Campos), 2002 National Clinic Violence Survey Report, March 2003, Read it

For expert information:

The Alan Guttmacher Institute
American Association of University Women
Center for Policy Alternatives
Center for Policy Research for Women and Families
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Women Policy Studies
Center for Women Policy Studies, National Resource Center on Women and AIDS Policy
Feminist Majority Reproductive Rights Information CenterGirls Incorporated
The Global Campaign for Microbicides
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American women. – National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, Women and Heart Disease Fact Sheet, 2005, Read it

43% of deaths among U.S. women (nearly 500,000) are caused by cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) each year. – National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, Women and Heart Disease Face Sheet, 2005, Read it

Women are nearly twice as likely to die from complications of bypass surgery as are men. – Reuters Health, 2005, Read it

Current treatments and diagnoses of heart disease are based on studies conducted primarily on white, middle-aged men. A review of more than fifteen years of research concluded that there are not enough data to determine whether many established tests and procedures work equally well in women. – Heart Healthy Women, 2005, Read it

For expert information:

The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease

The National Women’s Health Information Center

 Approximately one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during her lifetime. –American Cancer Society, 2005, Read it

 About 211,240 U.S. women will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2005. About 40,410 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are approximately 2 million women living in the United States who have been treated for breast cancer. –American Cancer Society, 2005, Read it

The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 22,220 new cases of ovarian cancer and 16,210 deaths in 2005. –National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, 2004, Read it

 Smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer, the leading cancer killer of women, and is also a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the leading overall killer of women. –National Women’s Law Center, Making the Grade on Women’s Health: Women and Smoking—A National and State-by-State Report Card, 2003, Read it

 Smoking kills 178,000 women each year and is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. –National Women’s Law Center, Making the Grade on Women’s Health, 2003, Read it

 Mifepristone, the anti-progesterone compound medication formerly known as RU-486 (the abortion pill), could be beneficial for progesterone-receptor positive cancers primarily affecting women. This type of cancer accounts for 60% of breast cancers, 85% of uterine cancers, and 40% of ovarian cancers. —The Feminist Majority Foundation, Campaign to Move Women’s Cancer Research Forward, 2005, Read it

For expert information:

Breast Cancer Information Center—Feminist Majority Foundation

American Cancer Society

Osteoporosis is a major public health threat, particularly for women. An estimated forty-four million Americans, or 55% of those age fifty or older are affected. In the United States, ten million individuals are estimated to already have the disease and almost thirty-four million more are estimated to have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Of the ten million Americans estimated to have osteoporosis, eight million are women and two million are men. –National Osteoporosis Foundation, Osteoporosis Fast Facts, 2005, Read it

Women can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in the five to seven years following menopause, making them more susceptible to osteoporosis. –National Osteoporosis Foundation, Osteoporosis Fast Facts, 2005, Read it

One out of every two women over age fifty will have an osteoporosis-related bone fracture during her lifetime. – National Institutes of Health Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center, Osteoporosis Overview, 2005, Read it

“Despite the vast progress made in osteoporosis research and education over the last decade, bone loss is still not being detected early enough to protect postmenopausal women from osteoporosis-related fractures.” - International Osteoporosis Foundation, How Fragile is Her Future, 2000, Read it

For expert information:

National Institutes of Health—Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center

International Osteoporosis Foundation

Foundation for Osteoporosis Research and Education

National Women’s HealthInformationCenter—U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health

For expert information:

The Society for Menstrual Research
Site contains web resources, health links, and conference proceedings on woman-centered research on the menstrual cycle that examines the practical, ethical, and policy issues surrounding the menstrual cycle and women’s health.

The North American Menopause Society
Site presents information on perimenopause, early menopause, menopause symptoms and long-term health effects of estrogen loss, and a wide variety of strategies and therapies to enhance health.

Our Bodies Ourselves
A companion to the book, which contains women’s health news, links, and other resources.

HIV/AIDS is no longer striking only men. Women account for nearly half of the forty million people worldwide living with HIV. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women comprise 57% of adult HIV cases, and women aged fifteen to twenty-four are more than three times as likely to contract HIV than are young men. –UNAIDS/UNFPA/UNIFEM, Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis, 2004, Read it

African American and Hispanic women are disproportionately affected by HIV. While they represent less than 25% of the female population in the United States, they account for over 82% of HIV cases in women. –National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, HIV Infection in Women, 2004, Read it

In 2001, over 200,000 young women ages fifteen to nineteen had chlamydia; nearly 70,000 had gonorrhea, and about 142 had syphilis. Also in 2001, an estimated 1,873 girls ages thirteen to nineteen had AIDS. –Girls Incorporated, Girls and HIV, AIDS and STDs, 2003, Read it

“Down low” behavior, in which men covertly have sex with men while in long-term monogamous relationships with women, places women at serious risk for HIV. –The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, HIV/AIDS Among Women of Color in Massachusetts, 2004, Read it

For expert information:

Center for Women’s Policy Studies— National Resource Center on Women and AIDS Policy

Ms. Foundation for Women—Women and AIDS Fund

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)—Gender and HIV/AIDS

Girls’ acceptance of media images displaying the importance of physical appearance is related to negative feelings about the self. –Girls Incorporated, Girls and their Bodies, 200, Read it

In a study of 4,746 middle and high school students, 57% of girls had fasted, gone on diets, used food substitutes, or smoked cigarettes in order to lose weight. Another 12% reported using more extreme measures, such as diet pills, laxatives, vomiting, or diuretics. –Girls Scouts Research Institute, Weighing In: Helping Girls be Healthy Today, Healthy Tomorrow, 2004, Read it

A recent review of thirty-seven studies on patients' psychological and psychosocial functioning before and after cosmetic surgery (Honigman, Phillips, & Castle, 2004) suggests positive outcomes as a result of surgery, including a more positive body image and higher quality of life. But several poor outcomes were also found, especially for those who hold unrealistic expectations for surgery results or have a history of depression and anxiety. –American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology, Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast?, by Melissa Dittman, 2005, Read it

It is estimated that 130 million girls and women have undergone female genital cutting (FGC). According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 168,000 women and girls in the United States had either undergone FGC or were at risk for FGC in 1990. Of these, 48,000 were girls younger than eighteen years old. –National Women’s Health Information Center—U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Female Genital Cutting, 2005, Read it

For expert information:

World Health Organization

Our Bodies Ourselves

National Eating Disorders Association—Research Studies on Eating Disorders

Women in the United States are affected by depressive disorder nearly twice that of men. –National Institute of Mental Health, Depression: What Every Woman Should Know, 2005, Read it

The rate of depression among African American women is almost 50% higher than that of Caucasian women, which is a result of their experiences as black Americans, including racism, discrimination, violence, and sexual exploitation. –Black Women’s Health, Black Women and Mental Health, 2004, Read it

Women outnumber men in every anxiety disorder, including panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. Men and women have an equal likelihood being affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social phobia. –National Institute of Mental Health, Women Hold Up Half the Sky, 2001, Read it

 The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that four million women are victims of gender-based violence within the United States each year. This includes coercion, threats, intimidation, social isolation, and emotional, sexual, and/or physical abuse. –MayoClinic.com, Domestic Violence Toward Women: Recognize the Patterns and Seek Help, 2005, Read it

Find expert information:

Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Women’s Mental Health

MayoClinic.com Women’s HealthCenter

National Institute of Mental Health

About four million U.S. women abuse alcohol. –National Women’s Health Information Center, Women and Drinking, 2003, Read it

For girls and young women, a history of abuse, family violence, depression, and life stress is significantly related to an increased risk of alcohol abuse. –Girls Incorporated, Girls and Substance Use, 2002, Read it

Women tend to suffer the effects of drug and alcohol differently from men—they suffer more negative effects more quickly and become addicted to substances faster than do men. –Liebmann-Smith, J., National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Substance Abuse and Women, 2004, Read it

Traditional drug treatment programs may not be sufficient for women because research shows that women need programs that provide comprehensive services, including food, clothing, shelter, social services, transportation, etc. –National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIDA InfoFacts: Treatment Methods for Women, 2005, Read it

For expert information:

Wellesley Center for Women—Prevention through Connection: A Collaborative Approach to Women’s Substance Abuse ( Linda Hartling, PhD)

Office of National Drug Control Policy—Publications on Women

Black Women’s Health—Alcohol Addiction and Abuse

Older women make up 59% of the sixty-five and over population, and about three-fourths of the population over age eighty-five. –Task Force on Aging Research Funding, Meeting the Needs of the 21 st Century, 2004, Read it

Women suffer disproportionately greater than men from cardiovascular disease, mental disorders, osteoporosis, disability, autoimmune disease, stroke and incontinence. –Task Force on Aging Research Funding, Meeting the Needs of the 21 st Century, 2004, Read it

“In April 2004, Women’s Health Initiative scientists reported that women ages fifty to seventy-nine using estrogen alone were more likely [than men] to have a stroke and were not protected against heart disease…. Experts still don’t have the answer to some questions about menopausal hormone therapy.” –National Institute on Aging, Understanding the Women’s Health Initiative Study of Using Estrogen Alone, June 2004, Read it

In a recent survey by AARP of adult sexuality at midlife and beyond, two-thirds of men reported they always had an orgasm during intercourse over the past six months, while only one-third of women reported always having an orgasm. –AARP, Sexuality at Midlife and Beyond, 2004, Read it

For expert information:

National Institute on Aging (NIA)—Menopause

National Institutes of Health—Menopausal Hormone Therapy Information

The New View Campaign—Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD): A New Medical Myth

The North American Menopause Society

Women Growing Older—International Health and Aging Information

See also: osteoporosis, cancer, and heart disease

For links to reports, papers, and proceedings, click here to READ IT!

Society for Women’s Health Research
The Society has two initiatives dedicated to funding women’s health research: The Isis Fund, which promotes the research of diseases and conditions that affect women only, predominantly, or in a different manner, and the Pfizer/SWHR Scholars’ Grants, which fund physician researchers who will pursue the biological mechanisms of diseases that affect women.

Women’s Research and Education Institute A Guide to Federal Funding Opportunities in Women’s Health (Costello & Mears, 2002)
This booklet contains information on gaining funds from the Department of Health and Human Services for research projects focused on women’s health issues.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Site contains a listing of areas funded by NICHD on women’s health research, including a list of NICHD components that conduct and support women’s health research.

FDA Office of Women’s Health
Contains information and links to intramural and extramural funding opportunities for women’s health research.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Site provides an updated list of funding opportunities available through HHS and other governmental departments.