| **FORWARD**

**Susan J. Blumenthal, MD, MPADeputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women’s Health)Assistant Surgeon GeneralU.S. Department of Health and Human Services*Healthy Women 2000* Series Director**

Since 1900, women’s lives have been extended by 30years. Instead of dying of acute illness and childbirth as did women at the turn of thecentury, today’s women experience chronic disease and disability across their longerlife trajectory. Our new national focus on women’s health has disclosed that behaviorand lifestyle factors play a significant role in the etiology of the diseases that strikeat women. Indeed, issues such as smoking, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, poor diet,inadequate exercise, and risky sexual behavior now contribute over 50% of the causation ofall 10 of the leading causes of death in American women today. As many as 1 million deathsin the U.S. could be prevented if Americans would change their health-related behaviors. 

As part of its mission to redress the inequities that haveput the health of American women at risk, the Office on Women’s Health in theDepartment of Health and Human Services created *Healthy Women 2000,*a series ofhealth education conferences that focus on the promotion of good health for ourNation’s women by highlighting the most prominent and previously neglected healthissues facing American women. The goal of this series is to provide women with the toolsand the knowledge they need to help them lead longer and healthier lives.

In June 1996, the Office on Women’s Health joined withthe National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, theLupus Foundation of America, the Scleroderma Research Foundation, the Sjogren’sSyndrome Foundation, and the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues to convene a *HealthyWomen 2000* conference focusing attention on autoimmune disease, a series of over 80chronic, progressive and widely misunderstood and understudied disorders thatdisproportionately affect women. Senior researchers in the field of autoimmune disordersaddressed such issues as gender differences in these illnesses, the biomedical bases ofautoimmunity, models of care, and the psychosocial impact of these diseases on women andtheir families. They provided not only a state-of-the-art snapshot about these personallyand economically devastating disorders, but also a broad range of research, servicedelivery and policy directions for future inquiry. This conference summary is intended tobring the message from this conference to American women, their health care professionals,research scientists and policy makers across the country, articulating not only what weknow today about autoimmune disease, but also the hope that research brings for thefuture, a future that one day will be free from the threat of these devastating diseases. 

**Disclaimer**

This monograph was produced through an educational grant tothe National Multiple Sclerosis Society from Teva Marion. The views expressed in thispublication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Office onWomen’s Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. The authors’views are not intended to endorse any particular product to the extent that individualproducts are mentioned.

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