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Health and Wellness
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Diseases and Conditions
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Reproductive Health
- Breastfeeding
- Menopause
- Menstrual Cycle
- Ovulation Calculator
- Pregnancy
- Patient Materials
- Increase in breastfeeding
- Increasing women's lifespan
- Policy of inclusion of women in clinical trials
- Improvements in breast cancer screening
- Improvements in mental health care for women
- Decrease in breast cancer deaths
- Decrease in smoking rates for women
- Decrease in teen pregnancy
- Cervical cancer prevention and screening
- Decrease in HIV/AIDS deaths in women
- Federal funding to address violence against women
- Decrease in lung cancer deaths in women
- Mother-to-child transmission of HIV decreased
- Decrease in deaths from women's leading killer – heart disease
- Making birth control better, safer, and more accessible for women
- Creation of Offices on Women's Health at the federal level
- Cancer and Steroid Hormone (CASH) study
- Approval of emergency contraception
- Building better osteoporosis treatments
- Efforts to improve pregnant women's health and outcomes
- Dangerous drugs and devices for women removed from market
- Improvements in support to caregivers
- Improvements in older women's health
- Largest women's health prevention study ever – Women's Health Initiative
- FDA helps women and families meet their nutritional needs
- Addressing sex differences in health
- Addressing minority women's health
- Recognizing the needs of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women
- Creation of women's health information resources
- Affordable Care Act improves women's health
- 30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
- HHS and women's health: Agency and office descriptions
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- 30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
- Decrease in deaths from women's leading killer – heart disease
- CDC, Deaths: Leading Causes for 2010
- NIH, NHLBI, 2012 NHLBI Morbidity and Mortality Chart Book
- NIH, NHLBI, Heart Disease Deaths in American Women Decline
- CDC, Vital Signs: Avoidable Deaths from Heart Disease, Stroke, and Hypertensive Disease — United States, 2001–2010
- AHRQ, Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Conditions in Women
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30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
Call the OWH HELPLINE: 1-800-994-9662
9 a.m. — 6 p.m. ET, Monday — Friday
OWH and the OWH helpline do not see patients and are unable to: diagnose your medical condition; provide treatment; prescribe medication; or refer you to specialists. The OWH helpline is a resource line. The OWH helpline does not provide medical advice.
Please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if you are experiencing a medical emergency.Decrease in deaths from women's leading killer – heart disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American women.1 But today, fewer women die of heart disease.2 Between 2003 and 2004, the number of women who died from heart disease shifted from 1 in 3 women to 1 in 4 women.3 The ongoing decline in death from heart disease is due to both a reduction in risk factors (such as high blood pressure) and improved treatments for heart disease.4
In the past 30 years, HHS began several efforts to help women recognize the signs and symptoms of heart disease and understand their risk of heart disease. In 1997, the CDC launched the WISEWOMAN program, which screens low-income women for chronic diseases like heart disease. Women at high risk are then invited to join lifestyle programs like cooking classes or walking clubs to lower their risk.
In 2002, NIH launched a national campaign to educate women about heart disease, The Heart Truth Campaign®, and its symbol, the Red Dress. By 2009, The Heart Truth Campaign reported an increased awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death for women – up from 34% in 2000 to 69% in 2009.
Research sponsored by AHRQ has found important differences in the approaches to treatment and prevention of heart disease between women and men. For example, women are more likely to experience delays in the ER when they have cardiac symptoms.5 OWH introduced Make the Call. Don't Miss a Beat. in 2010 to educate women about the symptoms of a heart attack and empower them to call 9-1-1 as soon as the symptoms arise.
In 2011, HHS started Million Hearts®, a national, public-private initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Co-led by the CDC and CMS, the initiative brings together communities of all kinds to improve care and empower Americans to make heart-healthy choices.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires most insurers to provide preventive care and screening, including the “ABCs” of cardiovascular prevention: aspirin use (A), blood pressure control (B), cholesterol management (C), and smoking cessation (S) at no cost. Remember these “ABCs,” and together we can prevent heart attacks and strokes.
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All material contained on these pages are free of copyright restrictions and may be copied, reproduced, or duplicated without permission of the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Citation of the source is appreciated.
Page last updated: April 01, 2019.
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A federal government website managed by the Office on Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20201
1-800-994-9662 • Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET (closed on federal holidays).
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