Join us in celebrating International Women’s Day with a vow to continue advocating for equal healthcare rights, and equal rights in all areas. MSU is incredibly proud of our leaders, volunteers, patients, care partners, and industry partners. Demographically, the majority of those we support and work with are women.
Many types of myositis (inflammatory myopathy) disproportionately affect women and women of color and there is much work to do to be sure women’s medical needs are addressed.
“Despite good intentions, gender bias persists in health care.” Janine Clayton, MD, director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the NIH explains, “Much of medical science is based on the belief that male and female physiology differ only in terms of sex and reproductive organs, she says. Because of this, most research has been conducted on male animals and male cells.” – Read more here.
While improvements have been made over the years, “historically, women have been incredibly underrepresented in clinical trials”. The progress made is in part due to Congress passing the National Institute of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, which “encouraged researchers to include more women and minorities in clinical trials.” Read more here.
Many types of myositis (inflammatory myopathy) disproportionately affect women and women of color and there is much work to do to be sure women’s medical needs are addressed.
Another important factor in the progress made is the FDA’s Action Plan in 2014,” laying out the agency’s efforts to increase participation of women and people of color in clinical trials.” – Read more here.
Let’s use our collective voice to advocate for and ensure that women are equally empowered, represented, and included.
Tags: DEI healthcare
