Understanding and improving women’s health—from cells to society (18 March 2024)

Summary

Women and people born biologically female have unique health needs across the life span, and their health outcomes often differ from those of men. Although women make up greater than half of the world’s population, these unique needs remain both insufficiently understood, due to decades of exclusion from scientific and medical research, and inadequately addressed, due to systems and cultures that often dismiss or devalue their experiences.

This article discusses highlights from the National Academy of Medicine's Annual Meeting Scientific Symposium in October 2023 on the subject of women’s health. It looks at improving representation in research, bridging the gap in terms of social determinants of health and the need to reassess and research the female chromosomal makeup.