Empowering Women’s Health: Proposed NIH Actions for Enhancing Accountability and Progress in Women’s Health Research

Women’s health research is defined as the study of health across a woman’s lifespan, which includes sex differences in disease risk and drug responses as well as conditions that are specific to women such as pregnancy and menopause (“The Role of Women’s Health Research” n.d.). Although the anatomical and physiological differences between men and women are critical, women have been historically understudied in health research and female-dominant diseases are underfunded (Smith 2023). Entire subpopulations of women have been excluded or underrepresented in clinical trials, such as those who are pregnant, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and that live in rural areas. The lack of funding opportunities for women’s health research further delays progress that is critical for clinical interventions. In this report, we propose that the National Institute of Health (NIH) implement policies to promote inclusive research studies by amending their 2016 Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV) policy, mandating sex-disaggregated data reporting in NIH repositories, aligning funding allocation with sex-specific disease burden using Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), and reclassifying pregnant women as a medically complex rather than a vulnerable population. These recommendations will help NIH improve compliance with its existing policies, increase visibility of women’s health issues, and support research imperative to bridging the knowledge and healthcare gap experienced by women.