Questioned several times on women’s health during a structured dialogue with the European Parliament’s Committee on Public Health (SANT) on Wednesday 3 June, the European Commissioner for Equality, Crisis Preparedness and Management, Hadja Lahbib, defended the Commission’s approach, while several MEPs called for a specific European strategy.
Christophe Clergeau (S&D, French) pointed out that Parliament was working on a report on women’s health. While he recognised the value of the initiatives planned under the gender equality strategy, the French MEP felt that they were still insufficient given the scale of the issues at stake, and reiterated his call for a dedicated European strategy.
Similarly, Catarina Martins (The Left, Portuguese) pointed out the inequalities in the treatment of many diseases affecting women, in particular cardiovascular disease, and argued that a global strategy would make it possible to respond better to the shortcomings observed in medical research and healthcare systems.
Hadja Lahbib acknowledged that “for too long, women’s health has been ignored”.
The European Commissioner pointed out that health was one of the priorities of the future European strategy for equality between women and men. She announced the launch of an initiative with the World Health Organization to identify best practice and improve the quality and accessibility of care for women.
The Commission will also fund a study into the economic and social benefits of reducing the health disparities affecting women, particularly in relation to endometriosis and the menopause.
It will also be working with the European Medicines Agency on the introduction of gender-sensitive controls throughout the development of medicines.
Hadja Lahbib also stated that the Commission would seek to avoid the systematic exclusion of pregnant and breast-feeding women from clinical trials. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)