Global advances in health and medicine : improving healthcare outcomes worldwide
-
Starting in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, reports appeared in the literature describing the poor health status and poor health outcomes experienced by minority populations, especially blacks, in the United States. Additionally, attention was brought to the limited access to health services for minority populations. ⋯ The committee extended the recommendations to include (3) implementation of programs to enhance individual education and empowerment, (4) a need for research into identifying racial and ethnic disparities and the development of and assessment of intervention strategies, and (5) a need to integrate cross-cultural education into the training of all health professionals.(1) Subsequent to this report, there has been an increase in efforts to increase diversity among healthcare providers and research investigators.(2) The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) continues to encourage recruitment of minorities to careers in medicine, to stress the importance of a diverse medical school faculty and administration, and to graduate culturally competent healthcare providers who will decrease health disparities and improve health equity. Additionally, as noted by Ginther et al in 2011, there continues to be a need to increase diversity at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not only among the workforce but also among the recipients of awards.(3) To this end, the NIH has established the Working Group on Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce to monitor the efforts of the NIH to increase diversity and to suggest remedies.(4.)
-
Glob Adv Health Med · Sep 2013
The WHISK (Women's Health: Increasing the Awareness of Science and Knowledge) Pilot Project: Recognizing Sex and Gender Differences in Women's Health and Wellness.
Women's health encompasses a continuum of biological, psychological, and social challenges that differ considerably from those of men. Despite the remarkable advances in science, women's health and sex differences research is slowly gaining recognition and acceptance. It is important that women's health gain attention as women are usually the gatekeepers of care for the family. ⋯ The Women's Health: Increasing the Awareness of Science and Knowledge (WHISK) Pilot Project was a multidisciplinary project aimed to increase the awareness of sex and gender differences in women's health and research among healthcare professionals. Theater expression and creative art were used to translate knowledge, enhance understanding, and increase the awareness of sex differences. Findings from this project clearly showed an apparent increase in knowledge and cultivation of new insights.
-
Glob Adv Health Med · Sep 2013
Building the Women's Health Research Workforce: Fostering Interdisciplinary Research Approaches in Women's Health.
The Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program is a mentored institutional research career development program developed to support and foster the interdisciplinary research careers of men and women junior faculty in women's health and sex/gender factors. The number of scholars who apply for and receive National Institutes of Health (NIH) research or career development grants is one proximate indicator of whether the BIRCWH program is being successful in achieving its goals. ⋯ Our results suggest that the BIRCWH program has been successful in bridging advanced training with establishing independent research careers for scholars.
-
For more than 20 years, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) has promoted the NIH's research agenda on women's health and sex and gender issues. Important biological and behavioral differences between women and men influence health and well-being, affecting normal function as well as the manifestations, epidemiology, and response to treatment of many illnesses. This special issue is dedicated to reaching across the globe to increase awareness of the importance of women's health research and to stimulate consideration of sex and gender differences in research at institutions around the world.