NIH Requires Change

Let’s Talk Menopause and the National Menopause Foundation have created a turnkey advocacy campaign to support the Menopause Research & Equity Act of 2023.

Here is everything you need to know:

• Currently, 50 million women in the U.S. are between the ages of 42 and 58 (mid-life), the typical age group who experience physical changes caused by menopause. Of this group, 85% report experiencing menopause-related symptoms (NIH National Library of Medicine).
• Women are in Menopause in the United States making up 20 percent of the workforce; overall 75 million women are in perimenopause, menopause and post-menopausal.
• 75 percent of women who seek care are left untreated by their doctors.
• Legislative Solution: Refocus the NIH to invest in menopause research, mid-life women’s health research, and finding new treatments for the symptoms of menopause. Provide funding certainty so new, long-term research can be conducted.

What the Bill Does:

• Directs the Director of NIH to evaluate the results of completed and ongoing menopause research, and research on mid-life women’s health
• Directs the NIH to determine the safety and effectiveness of treatments for women who experience menopause-related symptoms.
• Directs the NIH to identify the total amount of funding allocated for menopause-related research, and research on mid-life women’s health over the previous 5 fiscal years.
• Directs the NIH to identify and gaps in knowledge or research of the above.
• Requires the NIH to submit a report to Congress on the findings of the evaluation detailed above.
• Requires the NIH to submit a strategic plan to resolve the gaps in knowledge and identify topics of future research relating to potential treatments for menopause-related symptoms.
• The Menopause Research Equity Act would require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine the amount of funding allocated by the NIH for such research over the past five fiscal years and to submit a report with their findings and a strategic plan to address the identified gaps in knowledge and research, to Congress within 180 days of enactment.