“Public health surveillance is the bedrock of outbreak and epidemic response”. With these words, Marie-Paule Kieny – WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation – introduces the WHO guidelines on ethical issues in public health surveillance, a document targeted to a wide range of stakeholders involved in the constant monitoring of health threats.
European Institute of Women’s Health. February 2013.
Traditionally regarded as a male disease, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women worldwide. It also is a major cause of serious illness and disability, costly to healthcare systems and destroying women’s quality of life. In the EU, CVD remains the top cause of death for women in each of the twenty-seven EU countries. Only during the last decades has awareness been rising how CVD affects women differently from men, alerting women to their risk.
Internationally, the issue of including women in clinical trials of medicines has been addressed in various guidelines issued by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), which promotes regulatory standards for clinical trials. While ICH has specific guidelines on the conduct of clinical trials in paediatric and geriatric populations, there are no consolidated guidelines for the investigation of medicinal product in women.
Taking Action to Improve the Evidence Base for Policies by Changing Gender Imbalances in the Content and Process of Health Research.
What are the mechanisms behind gender imbalances in the contents and processes of health research?
Gender discrimination and bias not only affects differentials in health needs, health seeking behaviour, treatment, and health outcomes but also influences the content and the process of health research.
Mühlenbruch B, Jochimsen MA. Nature. 2013 Mar 7;495(7439):40-2.
Providing equal opportunities for women in science requires change at every level, argue Brigitte Mühlenbruch and Maren A. Jochimsen.
Gender-equality policy in science at European regional and national level has come a long way, thanks to more than 20 years of efforts by women scientists and far-sighted politicians. Yet progress is slow. The pipeline is still leaking and female researchers still hit glass ceilings.
The recent case of the French parents who risked a jail sentence for refusing to vaccinate their children reignited the intense debate over mandatory vaccinations, whose efficacy as an instrument to maintain high level of vaccine coverage has been questioned.
