SWHR Advocacy Priorities

The Society monitors and takes action as appropriate on public policy affecting research to improve the health of all women. While our agenda may change due to political and scientific events, at the outset of 2009 our priorities are:

Funding for Research in Women's Health
The Society seeks adequate funding for the governmental offices that support women's health research in National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, HRSA, Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and elsewhere.

Clinical Trials
The Society’s goal for the future of clinical trials is to guarantee the inclusion of women in all phases of clinical trials with sufficient representation to allow for analysis by sex, ethnicity and other demographics. In addition, efforts will be directed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that appropriate sex-based analysis is performed in clinical trials so that prescription drug labeling will reflect important differences between women and men.

Comparative Effectiveness Research
The Society has long advocated that a strong patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) program can provide value to the understanding of biological and physiological sex differences that affect disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Sex-based Biology
The Society advances sex-based biology to be an integrated and recognized essential element of all research.

Drug Labeling
The Society encourages the establishment of drug-labeling requirements to ensure that drug labels include language about differences experienced by women and men. Further, it advocates for research on the comparative effectiveness of drugs with specific emphasis on data analysis by sex.

View Policy Comment Letters
As part of its advocacy mission, the Society for Women's Health Research monitors the activities of the executive branch in the areas of women's health and research. At the request of various federal agencies, the Society periodically submits public comment letters detailing its positions on issues pertaining to the Society's public policy priorities.

(Updated: April 3, 2008)