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EVERYTHING
Melinda Gates’ Open Call for $1M+ Grants on Women’s Health
What: Melinda French Gates has issued an open call for nonprofits to give away $250 million to support women’s health around the world. Organizations can get between $1 and $5 million (!!!). More information on how to apply here.
Why it matters: “Haven Ley, chief strategy officer at French Gates’ organization Pivotal Ventures, said the grant competition was a ‘curtain raiser’ to a likely new focus on funding women’s health globally. Previously, Pivotal had primarily funded organizations working to advance women’s power in the U.S. ‘By focusing on women’s health, she’s expanded her definition of women’s power to include a precondition that women must have their health to be powerful,’ Ley said, speaking of French Gates, who also has 20 years of experience funding global health through the Gates Foundation.”
Source: Associated Press
FERTILITY
IVF Only Covered By One in Four Companies
What: While IVF has gotten a lot more attention in recent months, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of employer-sponsored insurance plans found that just over 25% of companies with at least 200 workers actually offer coverage for the procedure.
Why it matters: “One round of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, can cost you $20,000. The process involves retrieving eggs from ovaries, fertilizing those eggs in a lab and then transferring an embryo into the uterus. It can take several rounds to get pregnant and have a baby.”
Source: NPR // KFF
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Treating Postpartum Psychosis with Mother and Baby Together
What: Postpartum psychosis is rare, but when it happens, mothers are often separated from their babies for treatment in America. But in Britain and other European countries, mother-baby units exist to allow women to get the treatment they need without being removed from their children.
Why it matters: “’You can’t get better by yourself and then get thrown into motherhood, which is what triggered you in the first place,’ said Ruth Hanna, who stayed at a mother-and-baby unit in Glasgow in 2020. … Women with postpartum psychosis also tend to stay for much longer — sometimes for months — in a mother-and-baby unit than they would in a general psychiatric ward. At the five inpatient wards in the United States where women with perinatal mental illness can receive specialized care, without their infants (in North Carolina, California, Arkansas, Louisiana and New York), the typical length of stay is less than two weeks.”
Source: New York Times
ABORTION ACCESS
Florida Republicans Threaten TV Stations with Jail Over Terminal Brain Cancer Ad
What: Florida’s health department is threatening *criminal charges* for TV stations that air an ad featuring Caroline Williams, a woman who was pregnant in 2022 when she was diagnosed with a terminal, stage 4 brain tumor. Williams’ doctors “told her they couldn’t treat her with chemotherapy or radiation while she was pregnant. Increased hormones from her pregnancy were supercharging her tumor, leaving her with little time to decide. She was faced with deciding between a second child or more time with her husband and daughter. She said doctors told her that even waiting until 36 weeks would be too late. Williams had an abortion in Florida in April 2022. The next day, she was fitted for a radiation mask.”
Why it matters: Florida’s six-week abortion ban would’ve blocked Williams from getting the abortion she needed. It is also on the ballot, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to use Florida’s “sanitary nuisance” law, which is typically used “to charge people with overflowing septic tanks or unclean slaughterhouses,” to get this ad off the air.
Source: Washington Post
ONCOLOGY
Jenna Fischer and Explaining Triple Positive Breast Cancer
What: Office actress Jenna Fischer announced she has been treated for “triple positive” breast cancer, an “aggressive” but treatable form of the illness, and is currently cancer free. The Washington Post goes beyond the typical celebrity cancer story to explain exactly what “triple positive” means.
Why it matters: “The term triple-positive refers to the cancer’s hormone receptor status — whether cells have various receptors. Triple-negative breast cancer, for example, doesn’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors and little HER2 protein present in the cells, according to the American Cancer Society. Knowing the hormone receptor status can help an oncologist determine treatment. ‘Prognosis depends on the cancer’s stage and response to treatment,’ Mokbel said, adding that the size of the cancer and the individual’s genes can also shape recovery.”
Source: Washington Post
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