Not only is women's health an important topic, but focusing on the mechanisms for getting the right information to women at the right time is a component that I believe has been mostly ignored. We fund significant research and help develop new, exciting treatments to address many chronic diseases facing women, yet we have little or no comprehensive, program to get the message out. Often times women are faced with knowing very little or we sent a very confusing, conflicting message. While I am proud to be part of the effort to educate women about breast and cervical cancers and have strongly supported an increased federal role in research of these diseases and effective treatments, I am often dismayed that we cannot use a similar model to educate women about heart disease and osteoporosis.
Heart disease kills more than five times as many women as breast and ovarian cancers combined.
Heart disease is the number one killer of women. Yet we have no comprehensive, national strategy for educating women about heart disease and prevention measures to prevent the disease. But, it appears that it does not discriminate based on gender.