Since the establishment of the HHS Coordinating Committee on Women's Health (CCWH) in 1984, we have made significant strides in improving the physical and mental health of women in the United States. Along with the U.S. Congress, the White House, and millions of women, health care providers, and researchers, the agencies and offices represented on the Committee played a key role in these achievements.

Over the past 30 years women have been living longer. In 1984, a woman's life expectancy was 78.¹ Today, women on average live to 81 — and that number continues to rise.² However, the life expectancy of American women ranks far below Asian and European women, whose life expectancies range from 87 to 90 years.³

In 1977, the FDA issued a guideline banning most women of "childbearing potential" from participating in clinical research studies. This was the result of certain drugs (most notably thalidomide) causing serious birth defects.¹ At the time, the focus was on protecting the most vulnerable populations at all other costs.²

A mammogram is an X-ray picture of the breast used to check for breast cancer, the second most deadly cancer in women.¹ Mammograms can find cancer early, sometimes up to three years before a woman or her doctor can feel a lump², and more than 90% of these early-stage cancers can be cured.³

The first Surgeon General's report on mental health was released in 1999.¹ Since then, awareness of the societal burden of mental illness, and the need for equitable treatment of it alongside physical health concerns, has increased. HHS, with leadership from SAMHSA and CMS, implements mental health parity laws to ensure that insurers cannot discriminate against those with mental illness by covering mental health treatments at a lower level than physical health concerns.^{2, 3}

• ACF – Administration for Children and Families

Today, fewer American women are dying from breast cancer. In the past 10 years, the death rates from breast cancer have dropped an average of 1.9% per year, while the rate of breast cancer diagnoses has been stable.¹ Federally funded research, increased screening, and new and improved treatments have saved lives and improved women's quality of life when they are confronted with a breast cancer diagnosis.

Just 35 years ago, domestic violence was hidden behind closed doors.¹ It wasn't until the 1970s that states began addressing violence against women, including sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence.² One decade later, in 1984, the federal Department of Justice Task Force on Family Violence issued the first-ever report to examine the scope and effects of domestic violence in America.³

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women¹, and the second-leading cause of death after heart disease.^2,3 But the good news is that lung cancer deaths in women continue to decline each year⁴, thanks in part to federal programs to help women quit smoking and federally funded research leading to improved treatments, scientific understanding, and public health policies.^5,6

Women with HIV who take antiretroviral medication during pregnancy can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies to less than 1%.¹ The rates of mother-to-child transmission peaked in 1992², and continue to fall to very low levels, despite an increase in the number of women with HIV giving birth.³