Charting a course for the future of womenʹs health in the United States: concepts, findings and recommendations

The JHU Womenʹs and Childrenʹs Health Policy Center, with the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, undertook a review of the health of women in the United States and invited experts to develop recommendations on health policy, programs, practices and research. The review included published research, program reviews, and policy reports on womenʹs physical health, mental health, and health behaviors, and on the effects of health services, systems and financing on their health. Based on trends in age, ethnic background, education, labor-force participation, marriage and childbearing among women, the results of the reviews, and the experts’ consultation, several recommendations were made for a forward looking agenda. They included the need: (1) to focus broadly on womenʹs health, not just during pregnancy; (2) for comprehensive, integrated programs and services addressing womenʹs unique needs; (3) for integrated programs and services across the lifespan; (4) for better provider training about womenʹs unique health needs, the differential effects of particular problems on them, and the consequences of chronic health problems heretofore considered primarily male problems; (5) to eliminate social policies that single out women, particularly pregnant women, for punitive actions; (6) to promote social policies that ensure economic security for women; and (7) for vigorous public health leadership to shape the womenʹs health agenda, recognizing the social and economic context of their lives. The social and economic trends among women in the US and the recommendations for a womenʹs health agenda have relevance to other developed countries as well.