Women’s health needs beyond sexual, reproductive, and maternal health are missing from the government’s 2024 priorities (19 March 2024)

Summary

This BMJ opinion piece highlights that seeing women’s health as synonymous with sexual, reproductive and maternal health means that gaps remain in health provision to meet the wider needs of women. The Government recently outlined its 2024 priorities that build on the 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England. The authors welcome the focus on specific areas of need, but highlight that the priorities reinforce a traditional view of women’s health and miss an opportunity to encourage policymakers, healthcare providers and the public to take a broader view. They argue that a broader approach would reduce critical gaps in the evidence base and care and treatment relating to diseases and conditions that present only in women, disproportionately in women, and differently in women.