Read more about the HHS offices and agencies included in this section.
-
Health and Wellness
- Getting Active
- Healthy Eating
- Healthy Living by Age
- Healthy Weight
- Mental Health
- Relationships and Safety
-
Diseases and Conditions
- Cancer
- Heart Disease and Stroke
- HIV and AIDS
- Lupus
-
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
- Home
- 30 Achievements in Women's Health in 30 Years (1984 – 2014)
- Recognizing the needs of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women
- Lesbians are less likely to get preventive services for cancer.
- Lesbians and bisexual females are more likely to be overweight or obese.
- Transgender women are more at risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), violence, mental health issues, and suicide and are less likely to have health insurance.
- Bisexual women are at greater risk of rape, physical violence, and stalking than lesbian and heterosexual women.2
- HealthyPeople.gov, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health - Overview
- CDC, Intimate Partner Violence in the United States — 2010
- HHS, HHS LGBT Issues Coordinating Committee 2012 Report
- HHS, Better Health and Well-Being
- AOA, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)
- NIH, Statement by NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., on opportunities for advancing LGBT health research
- HHS, HHS LGBT Issues Coordinating Committee 2013 Report
- HHS, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Recommended Actions to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities
Popular topics
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.Recognizing the needs of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women
Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women face health disparities linked to social discrimination and denial of their civil and human rights. These disparities1 include the following:
As a result of these disparities, HHS set up the first-ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Issues Coordinating Committee in 2010.3 The committee developed a set of recommendations, first released in 2011 and updated annually.
Since 2010, HHS agencies have taken several actions to promote equal treatment of LGBT Americans, provide additional resources for LGBT health issues, and develop better information about LGBT health needs. CMS has increased enforcement of hospital visitation rights, and HHS has updated guidelines about medical decision-making. CMS has also clarified Medicaid and Medicare rules about spousal protections and rights to include same-sex partners.4 To help disseminate this information, and other important health information and assistance, AOA has created a national resource center for older LGBT people.5 In March 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report commissioned by NIH on the state of the science of LGBT health. The report provides the scientific community with the first comprehensive overview of research on LGBT health issues — an important step in identifying research gaps and opportunities.6 In October 2011, HRSA released Women’s Health USA 2011, with the first-ever feature focus on the health of lesbian and bisexual women. Since January 2013, the CDC has included a sexual orientation-specific question on the National Health Interview Survey to further improve data on the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations.7 Learn more about other HHS actions on improving LGBT health.
Today, the 2010 Affordable Care Act is also improving care and access to health coverage for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women. This is important because studies have shown that health disparities related to sexual orientation and gender identity are due in part to lower rates of health coverage.8
Sources
Read more about the HHS offices and agencies included in this section.
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.
Programs and Activities
Popular Topics
Find Help
Stay Connected
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).
Popular topics
Popular topics