A new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) establish a new institute focused on women’s health, supported by $15.7 billion in new funding over five years.
The report reveals that only 8.8 percent of NIH grant spending from 2013 to 2023 focused on women’s health research, with funding decreasing as a share of overall NIH budget despite the agency’s general budget increases.
“While some progress has been made in improving what we know about the health of women and girls, so much more remains to be understood,” said Sheila P. Burke, co-chair of the study committee and senior policy advisor at Baker Donelson. “We’ve been having the same conversation for three decades about the need to catalyze research on women’s health, and our report outlines the funding and restructuring that NIH will need to finally realize its long-standing efforts to turn that conversation into action.”
The proposed $15.7 billion would include $4 billion for the new institute, $11.4 billion for an NIH-wide interdisciplinary research fund, and $315 million for workforce development programs.
“Funding is of course critical, but any new investments in women’s health must come hand in hand with changes that allow NIH to pursue greater accountability, rigorous oversight, and seamless integration of women’s health research across the agency,” said committee co-chair Alina Salganicoff, senior vice president at KFF. “With these structural changes, the committee believes that the research community will be able to respond to and fill many knowledge gaps to transform the lives of millions of women across the nation who have been calling for better diagnosis and treatments to improve their health and well-being.”
The report highlights significant gaps in women’s health research, including conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and uterine fibroids. It also notes that while women have lower cardiovascular disease rates than men, they face worse outcomes after heart attacks or strokes, with limited understanding of the reasons behind these differences.
“This report lays out a bold and transformative vision for women’s health,” said Victor J. Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine. “To advance the health of the entire nation, it is imperative that federal support for women’s health research is not only bolstered now, but upheld in the years to come.”
