Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a new plan to triple the research funding for a wide range of medical conditions that affect women specifically, from endometriosis to the negative impacts of menopause on female health.
Spain’s new “We are. We count” initiative aims to help close the gender gap which has affected scientific research on women’s health for centuries.
“This initiative will serve to boost research, diagnosis and treatment in areas that have not received the necessary attention and that affect the lives of thousands of women in our country. We are talking about chronic pain, autoimmune and thyroid diseases, cardiovascular and mental health, menopause, and hormonal health,” Sánchez said.
Why will Spain invest €18 million annually into women’s health?
Sánchez explained that if a disease affected one in seven men causing chronic pain, difficulties working and fertility problems, they would most likely not have to wait a decade to be diagnosed.
The Spanish premier was referring to endometriosis, which affects between 10 and 15 percent of women worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation.
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He also denounced the fact that historically clinical studies were only carried out on males and that medications were only tested on males. Diagnostic tests and treatments he claimed were also designed for men.
“For too long we have tried to understand human health with a map that ignores half of the territory,” he said. Adding that “science has evolved in an incomplete way”.
What will the investment be used for and how will improvements be made?
The initiative, led by the Ministry of Science, includes three main plans of action:
- The first measure consists of promoting a specific programme to encourage companies and research centres to carry out investigations into women’s health through the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation.
- The second focuses on issuing more funding for the Carlos III Health Research Institute so that the institutions in the scientific network can work collaboratively on women’s issues.
- The third proposes the creation of new predoctoral contracts focused on the development of projects on this topic.
We want to “build a critical mass of researchers and specific multidisciplinary networks” to improve scientific knowledge about women’s health and, above all, “ensure that scientific advances are translated more quickly into healthcare technologies, clinical protocols, and diagnostic, therapeutic, and surgical innovations,” the Ministry of Science explained.
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What will these research projects focus on?
Endometriosis and PCOS
One of its main aims will be specifically to improve research into endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), now renamed by the scientific community as Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
Spanish Minister of Science, Diana Morant, pointed out, these conditions affect more than 15 percent of women of reproductive age, yet they can take up to 10 years to be diagnosed. This means that thousands of women are living with chronic and debilitating pain with clear diagnoses or treatment plans.
Morant emphasised that studies on these issues must be made a priority to provide better medical care to the women who suffer from them.
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Menopause
Another of the main objectives of this plan is the promotion of menopause research, which has historically been ignored, despite its impact on cardiovascular, bone, metabolic, and mental health, as well as on quality of life.
Autoimmune diseases
Calls for proposals will also be launched to promote research into autoimmune diseases affecting women. A total of 80 percent of those affected are women, yet they still lack proper diagnostic tools and specialised treatments.
Cardiovascular diseases
The initiative also aims to improve research into cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in women in Europe and are still not understood well among doctors.
