This began to change in the early 1990s, when the National Institutes of Health under the leadership of Dr. Bernadine Healy, a prominent heart researcher and the first woman to head that government agency established the Office for Women's Health Research. This office was given a mandate to ensure that all clinical trials supported by the NIH include adequate numbers of women. Congressional hearings and major conferences were held to raise both physician and public awareness of the health needs of women. Some of these needs were spelled out in a landmark 1993 report by the Commonweath Fund, a New York based foundation that concentrates on health issues. Depression and low self-esteem were found to be pervasive.
Domestic violence is a fact of life for millions of American women.
An estimated 30 million suffered some type of child abuse, setting what appears to be a lifelong pattern. Yet 92 percent do not discuss the abuse with their doctors, and 57 percent keep it secret from everyone. Thus, at long last, the medical community and women alike are coming to grips with the fact that women's health has been largely neglected. As the American population ages, the economic implications are staggering. Although women continue to live longer than men, they are more likely to spend their latter years in nursing homes, the victims of costly, debilitating disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, and arthritis.