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EVERYTHING
The Five Areas ARPA-H Where Is Looking for $100 Million Solutions
What: HealthCentral interviews Renee Wegrzyn, the director of ARPA-H, about the $100 million dollars the agency is getting ready to contract following the White House Initiative on Women’s Health. ARPA-H picked areas where they saw gaps in funding and are asking applicants for “solution summaries” through April 15:
- At-home diagnostics
- Menopausal health
- Chronic pain
- Sex differences in disease
- Brain health
Why it matters: As Wegrzyn explains, “heart disease and cancer are relatively well-funded compared to other topics in women’s health…So we really did an analysis to see where those gaps are that are really uniquely suited to ARPA-H as an investor.”
Source: HealthCentral
POSTPARTUM
Biggest Postpartum Surprise? How Hard Breastfeeding Is
What: FemTech brand Elvie conducted a survey of over 1,000 women on their experiences during the postpartum period and are promoting the results in a Times Square billboard. There’s lots of data, which is exciting (and rare!) for quality-of-life information during postpartum. A few findings that stuck out to me:
- The biggest misconception about postpartum care was thinking breastfeeding would be easier, coming in at 48%.
- A whopping 84% of moms experienced at least mild breastfeeding complications after giving birth, 27% had severe complications.
- Only 28% said they had good mental health during the postpartum period, and just 31% reported having professional mental health support.
Why it matters: Being able to put numbers to these issues helps illustrate how widespread they really are.
Source: Elvie
BIRTH CONTROL
Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill Takes It to the (Basketball) Courts
What: The WNBA and Perrigo, the manufacturer of the first over-the-counter birth control pill, announced a formal partnership Tuesday, which will include “civic engagement initiatives around how voting can influence reproductive health matters in underserved communities, informing the public about Opill as a new contraception option, and hosting educational events on college campuses in the fall.”
Why it matters: The partnership will launch at the WNBA Draft on April 15, which is expected to get record-breaking attention this year after the women’s Final Four tournament got blockbuster ratings this year.
Source: CNN
ABORTION ACCESS
Arizona’s Abortion Law From Before It Was a State Will Ban All Abortions, Imprison Docs
What: Arizona’s state supreme court said a wildly extreme 1864 (!!!) law would go into effect, banning abortion at conception, providing exceptions only for the life of the mother, and sending doctors to prison for two to five years for “providing, supplying or administering” care to pregnant women.
Why it matters: It will be several weeks before the law goes into effect, and Arizona abortion providers say they expect to keep working through May. But after that, women are going to lack access to full health care in Arizona (and some will suffer, potentially go infertile, and possibly die because of it.)
Source: New York Times
ONCOLOGY
Why 25% of Women Don’t Get Breast Cancer Screenings They Need
What: A CDC report shows 25% of women ages 50 to 74 are missing a biannual breast cancer screening. This problem isn’t new, but CDC’s chief medical officer, Dr. Debra Houry, said it is concerning because “we know that about 40,000 women die a year from breast cancer and having these screening mammograms can save lives.”
Why it matters: The CDC said they found the reasons women were most likely to miss a screening: “…the cost for access to care, food insecurity, lack of transportation, loss of work and feeling socially isolated. The report found the more of those health-related social needs a woman is dealing with, the less likely she is to get a mammogram.”
Source: CBS
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