Viewpoints: We Need To Rethink What ‘Women’s Health’ Is; Crash-Test Biases Put Women At Risk
Editorial writers tackle women's health matters, female crash test dummies, nurse sabbaticals, and more.
The Hill:
3 Myths That Are Holding Back Women’s Health Care Today
We’re now well into the 21st century but, incredibly, medical research, care and investment still default to the male body. People typically think of women’s health as sexual and reproductive health, but the majority of the global women’s health burden is caused by conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately. These are just some of the findings in a new analysis by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute. (Megan Greenfield and Lucy Perez, 3/19)
Roll Call:
Fatal Flaw: Buttigieg’s Inaction Means Women’s Lives Are At Risk
We’ve all seen the videos, in commercials or online, of crash testing. In a testing facility, a car hurtles towards a barrier with crash test dummies inside as engineers test for the impact of a crash. But there is a problem that we likely would not notice at first glance: these dummies and tests are based on men’s bodies, and men’s bodies only. It might seem unusual to think of an inanimate dummy as male, but it’s a basic physical representation of the way men’s bodies are shaped, the way weight and muscle are distributed, their average height. All this is fine for testing how men might fare in a car crash. But it’s extremely dangerous to women. (Susan Molinari and Beth Brooke, 3/19)
Stat:
Bring On The Sabbaticals For Nurses
A new study suggests that the nursing shortage is easing, but that doesn’t mean the health care system can stop worrying about retaining new and experienced clinicians. One potential solution: paid sabbaticals for nurses and other health care workers. If professors get sabbaticals to refresh and rejuvenate to sustain their academic productivity, why not frontline health care workers? (Diana J. Mason, 3/20)
The Washington Post:
Congress Should Remember The Baby Formula Crisis And Pass This Bill
The manufacturing tax credits could be the boost that formula brands need to buy or build their own manufacturing facilities rather than relying on contract manufacturers such as Perrigo, which also makes private-label formulas for chain stores. Those credits might also encourage companies with existing factories to build excess production capacity so they could scale manufacturing up quickly in the event of a shortage. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 3/20)
The New York Times:
Oprah — And America — Embrace The Promise Of Ozempic
There is a war brewing between insurers and providers over who can get these drugs, and not even Oprah Winfrey will be able to broker a resolution. True to her brand, she did not try. What Oprah did try to do is finally write the ending to a story about bodies that she has been writing for almost 40 years. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” went into national syndication in 1986. I was 10 years old. That means I have been in a psychosocial relationship with Oprah’s weight-loss struggles for longer than I have been an adult. (Tressie McMillan Cottom, 3/20)
