Carol Schechter

The following is a guest post by Carol Schechter, a leader in the field of health communication and social marketing. You can follow Carol on twitter @carol_schechter.

Last week was a bad week for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. On Monday, they were still an iconic charity; the group that successfully put women’s health issues in the public eye and the group that forever changed our associations with the color pink from babies to breast cancer survivors.

On Tuesday, their world changed. On January 31, AP broke the story that Komen decided  to stop funding Planned Parenthood, allegedly because Planned Parenthood was under Congressional investigation.   Social networks erupted with the news, and the world started to learn a lot about the workings of the Foundation: that the Komen VP behind the defunding decision was  tea party Republican who had long been opposed to Planned Parenthood; that Komen also opposed stem cell research; that a significant amount of Komen funds went to law suits against other charities that dared to use the phrase “for the cure” in their campaigns; that the decision to defund Planned Parenthood wasn’t shared with Komen grass roots chapters until after the announcement; and that many of these chapters opposed the decision when they learned of it. Komen started back pedaling quickly, first stating the real reason for the decision was not the Congressional investigation, but was because Planned Parenthood didn’t offer mammograms as a direct service. Excuses kept coming, but the damage was done. By the end of the week Komen reversed its decision and said Planned Parenthood was once again eligible to apply for grants. Then they engaged their PR firm.

This is not a PR issue, however. I respect good PR, but PR can’t fix a flawed organization.  Komen is a huge corporation. Since 1982, they have spent more than 1.9 billion dollars on breast cancer research.  An organization of this size needs leadership, vision, values and good management. 

My message to Komen- please go back to basics. Who is in charge? What do you stand for? What is your mission and what are your values?  You have done so much good for women – please don’t insult us by hiding behind PR.  You can gain back the respect you once had, but only by honesty, self reflection and hard work. Women’s health needs a trusted organization. Please give breast cancer survivors the organization they deserve.

The Heart Truth®—a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease.

Organized by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) as part of The Heart Truth’s American Heart Month festivities, “Friday, February 3rd is National Wear Red Day®, on which Americans wear red to show their support for women’s heart health.”

National Wear Red Day® is only the beginning, though. One of The Heart Truth’s signature events, The Red Dress Collection Fashion Show is also held during American Heart Month, as a kick-off to New York Fashion Week. This year’s show is being held Wednesday, February 8th. You can learn more and see highlights from last year’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show here.

American Heart Month, National Wear Red Day®, The Red Dress Collection Fashion Show and all of The Heart Truth’s other initiatives, events and activities serve to further one objective — increasing awareness about heart disease among women and helping women take steps to reduce their own personal risk of developing heart disease. To learn more about the organization and its mission or find out how you can get involved, check out The Heart Truth’s website, Facebook page and Twitter profile.

One of the blessings of my work-life is that I have access to some of the great minds in health and health care. But not until I began to personally harness their wisdom, intentionally incorporating what they’ve learned into my own life-flow and personal health ecosystem, did I impact my health.

You can see from the then-and-now photo what the physical transformation has been. This journey, though, went way beyond weight loss: my changed behaviors have to do with, yes, food intake, but also exercise, relaxation and balance, attitude, social connections, creativity, and intentional living.

2011 marked a major milestone in my life: my 25th wedding anniversary. This was a key health activation point: my husband and I discussed what we could give each other for the occasion. The idea of getting on another plane for a ‘special trip,’ when we both regularly travel for work and want to stay off planes in our spare time, did not appeal. Instead, we threw each other a wonderful party with special friends…and we gave each other the gift of health.

I disrupted my routine in many ways:

• How I eat (lean protein at every meal, including and especially breakfast, low fat, low-to-no white carb and sugar, lots of water and decaffeinated beverages – my choice, Tazo Calm Tea); listening to Michael Pollan’s Food Rules; and, continuing my allegiance to Slow Food.
• How I move (5 am walks for at least two miles to music that moves me, working with beats-per-minute and learning from Prevention’s Walk Off Weight); and, through the day when sitting at the computer, interrupting my workflow to walk downstairs and heat a new pot of water for tea, or do a couple hundred more steps up-and-down the stairs.
• How I track my daily activities and habits, wearing a FitBit and using a Withings scale. These devices, whose apps I carry and use daily on my iPhone, help me bolster good microchoices every single day.
• How I connect with my doctors and caregivers, regularly checking in, sharing data and getting advice and support.
• How I recharge (meditating 20 minutes every afternoon), going to sleep earlier than most, and getting quality rest.
• How I balance my day, by adopting the tagline of Paper Source to “do something creative every day.”
• How I spend spare time, with friends who delight me, nurture me, support me, hug me.

While the vast proportion of time and activities are conducted at home and on-the-move, an important disruption was changing my primary care physician to one with an electronic health record who would partner with me in my new health regime and workflow. I am not alone in voting-with-my-feet when it comes to moving to a physician who is accessible online: 1 in 2 people told Intuit last January 2011 that they would consider switching doctors if they didn’t offer online access to information and services. I was one who did, to more closely partner with my doctor. It’s made a huge difference in my life and health, which is also gratifying to him and his practice.

Social connections also play a huge role in sustaining behaviors over time. My husband, of course, earns best supporting role marital Oscar as partner in my journey, and I in his. Our teenage daughter is a great support and cheerleader. And our friends, who tend to be health-focused too, encourage, nurture, and support us, as well. The Edelman Health Barometer for 2011 found that one in 3 people spend less time with friends who have unhealthy behaviors, shown in the chart. See more about this in Nicholas Christakis’s Connected.

By multi-tasking and working on the 360 degrees of health, 24×7, I’ve been able to make a profound difference in my health and my quality of life. The key lessons I take from this journey are:

1. The power of connecting with my health providers – partnership and personal health records combined with a Hawthorne Effect
2. My family and friends – connections can make or break your health
3. Self-tracking - reinforces good choices, success, and behavior change
4. Activation – my anniversary and poor sleep were key initial motivations
5. Food is health – being mindful of what you eat and how it makes you feel makes you choose foods and eat more intentionally and healthfully.

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  The tea leaves for my personal 2012 see me continuing my health journey, tweaking along the way. I began to use the BodyMedia tracking device in late 2011 and will do more with it in 2012. The Family Kahn is also in house-purge mode, moving into another aspect of “lightening up” – that is to clean out the nooks and crannies to bring greater feng shui to the living environment. We already began the process before the holidays, and will continue to hone our home to simplify and bolster more intentional living.

I wish you all healthy, happy and peace-filled new years.

WawaRed (wawa means baby in Quechua language) is a pilot project of Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University that provides pregnant women with access to health information through a cell-phone-based interactive system. Women can access for free information about what to do if they have warning signs during their pregnancy such as vaginal bleeding or severe vomiting. The system also provides them with SMS reminders for their clinical appointments and with motivational messages.

The project will soon develop an electronic medical record that will interact with a mobile phone platform. Initially, the project was focused only on health information before the delivery. Given that women expressed their desire to continuing receiving messages to remind them about clinical appointments for their newborn, vaccinations, and nutritional tips, the project is being extended to cover one year after the delivery.

The project is being conducted under the leadership of Dr. García and Dr. Curioso and it is financed by the Mobile Citizen Program of the Science and Technology Division of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Wawared has established strategic alliances with the Regional Government, through the Callao Health Division, and with Telefónica Movistar of Peru. The project has now additional support from UNICEF to include an Electronic medical record for the baby`s first year of life.

Video of the project: WaWaRed: Getting connected for a better maternal and child health in Peru by IDB’s Mobile Citizen

So far we have seen women as victims of gender inequalities, but how about the role that women have as perpetuators of these inequalities? In many developing countries mothers, wives and teachers have a high acceptability of behaviors that maintain disparities between genders. For example, in some countries mothers teach their daughters that they have to cook and clean the house while their sons can keep playing. So when these daughters become mothers they assign their children the same roles, perpetuating this cycle. Mothers in some settings decide to favor her son over her daughter to attend the school and university. In some areas this is also true for health. In rural areas parents may sell their cow to pay the medical treatment of their sick son but they will not do this if their daughter gets sick.

Studies have shown that women with lower socioeconomic status and education are more likely to hold on to traditional ideas that perpetuate gender inequalities, and also more likely to perpetuate such ideas in the younger generation. For all of these reasons, it is important that in future awareness campaigns we place women not only as victims of inequalities (which gives them a passive role), but also as perpetuators of these inequalities.

My question to all of you is…Are we (as women who work for women’s rights) working to end the cycle of women as perpetuators of gender inequalities? Should we start by changing our own minds and own approaches towards interventions to decrease these inequalities?

By Saundra Pelletier. Big numbers always make people stop and think. Big birthdays, anniversaries or milestone are moments to reflect on what once was, and what could be.

Over the last few months, media coverage of the population reaching seven billion people has been especially ponderous, causing wonder about what the pressure of so many people will do to our planet. Questions abound. What will the carbon footprint of seven billion plus people be? Will there be enough food to feed everyone?  What can we do about population growth? How many people can the planet manage?

One of the ways we can help our planet is by investing in family planning. Family planning is one of the most cost-effective, high-yield interventions that exists today. Countries that invest in family planning can reap immediate health benefits, investment savings in health and education sectors, and social and environmental benefits that extend well beyond a single generation.

As I wrote in an earlier post, the ability for women here in the U.S. to use birth control to prevent or delay pregnancy gave every woman  the power to decide if and when she wanted to have children, and how many to have. And with the ability to keep families smaller, came the ability to provide for their present and future well-being.

This argument – small-family-equal-prosperous-communities– is not lost in the broader discussion about the seven billionth baby, but while pundits stress the urgent need to reduce the size of the world’s population, nowhere near enough is being done to ensure that the 215 million women who want to use modern contraception have access to do so.

The fact that this amazing milestone has made people stop and think about the people on our planet is a good thing. A good place to start on a road to a healthy, more prosperous planet is to ensure  that the women and girls, who make up just over half of the planet, can make informed choices about if and when to have children, and that they have access to the supplies to allow them to do so. Providing this access will slow the pace to reaching 8 billion.

About WomanCare Global: It is a nonprofit organization working with partners around the world to improve the lives of women by providing access to affordable, quality reproductive health products. The organization believes that every woman, no matter where she lives, should have control over her reproductive health and family planning needs, ultimately improving her ability to care for herself and her family. WomanCare Global closes the access gap by bringing the same quality products available in the developed world to developing countries. WomanCare Global serves both public and private sectors via an established global supply chain reaching countries around the world, with particular focus on under-served markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Realizing the seriousness and magnitude of the problem, SWHR began a multi-year program for women veterans in 2008 when we hosted a conference entitled, “PTSD in Women Returning from Combat Areas.”

SWHR’s president twice testified before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on the important topic of enhancing healthcare services for women veterans and the need for research into sex differences that influence the unique health issues military women face.

In February 2011, SWHR launched Fatigues to Fabulous™ (F2F), an ongoing national campaign to honor and support female veterans as they transition home. Collaborating with veterans’ service organizations and the fashion industry, SWHR is raising awareness about the unique physical, emotional, and psychological challenges female veterans face, and is working to harness resources to support them.

A SWHR scientific conference in July 2011 “What a Difference an X Makes: The State of Women’s Health Research – A Focus on Female Veterans” brought together researchers and clinicians to discuss research gaps and clinician care options for military women.

SWHR believes sex differences must be researched in order to better understand the causes, prevention and treatment options needed to improve the health of the 1.8 million American women returning from combat zones.

Your donation will help us fund and advocate for vital research into sex-based differences in military health, educate the public on this critical issue, and support veterans’ organizations that provide important services to women veterans.

This Veteran’s Day, please show your support for women veterans by donating to SWHR at swhr.org or purchase an exclusive Fatigues to Fabulous^TM watch designed by DKNYC. The watch, featuring traditional military “dog tag” imagery in multiple colors, is available only through HSN.com.  For each watch sold, a donation will be made to SWHR to support F2F.

Thank you from all of us at SWHR.

By Janice Lynch Schuster. Sunday night, simultaneously tired and wired from my participation in a 39-mile fundraising walk for breast cancer, I attended my daughter’s one-year anniversary meeting to celebrate her achievement: She has one year of drug-free living. The ceremony was moving and painful, joyful and sad. She talked about her struggle, her journey and moments of arrival, insights into her addiction and awareness of ways to overcome it. She talked about people in the room who had helped her along the way, who had called her on it when she tried to bamboozle them, who had loved and supported her as she worked to find other ways to cope with a world in which she had trouble living by the rules. Others in the room testified about their experiences with her—her determination to stay sober had inspired theirs; the fact that she had made it for a year gave them hope to reach similar goals; her enthusiasm and dedication, they said, was electrifying. To other teens in the meeting, she was a role model. She was—and is—a beloved part of this community of addicts and alcoholics. The outpouring of love and affection these people have for my daughter made me understand more fully and deeply just what it means to be on a journey with a community of like-minded people, and how important it is to be surrounded by such people when the journey is long and difficult, when there are barriers to be overcome and milestones to reach.

This time last year, we were in a very different place.  Aware that my daughter was self-destructing, I admitted her to a rehab facility; she was furious with me and told me our relationship was over, that I was not her mother, and she would never be my daughter again. She was livid and, until I stopped answering the phone, would call me daily with her fury. I was heartbroken—my beautiful girl, so smart and talented and funny—had been waylaid by a disease that has plagued our family for generations. She was 17, at the end of her junior year in high school, and at a time when I had expected her to be visiting colleges, studying for the SATs, buying her class ring, we were sitting in a locked room, crying and angry and overwhelmed by what was happening. The weekend I checked her in to the rehab facility coincided with the annual 39-mile walk, and despite my sorrow, I felt obligated to walk. So many people had donated so much money to me, and although the funds were committed whether I showed up or not, I felt compelled to go along with my plan.

I could not have made a worse mistake. The stress and anxiety compromised me more than I realized; walking with my teammates, I felt isolated and miserable, unable to connect to the enthusiasm and community the day usually generates. Instead of joyfully moving forward, my brain and body were caught in a terrible circle of trying to figure out what was happening to my daughter and why, where I had failed her and how, whether I could save her or not, and realizing that all of this reasoning was wrong: Addiction is a disease, and I could no more save her from it than I could save my friend from metastatic breast cancer. By Mile 18, my feet were killing me; I slathered them with some lotion, had an allergic reaction, broke out in hives and swelling, and made it to Mile 26 thanks to a friend who slowed down and stayed with me, who filled the hours with stories and jokes, and who insisted that I had to finish. I spent the next two days in bed, crying.

This year was different. I trained all year with a fantastic trainer whose charisma and expertise convinced me in that I could do anything. He pushed me, came up with routines that seemed impossible, and encouraged me to get beyond thinking I couldn’t possibly do more. I also trained with a group of women who met each Saturday and walked for 10 or 15 or 20 miles, and our shared stories and experiences pushed each of us to move forward and grow stronger. Every day of the week, I walked—sometimes just a mile or two, sometimes six or eight. My energies were wholly focused on a singular goal: I was going to make it on this year’s walk; I was going to, as my trainer said, “Finish strong,” I was going to be a source of strength, inspiration, and support for my friends who are living with breast cancer. Just like my daughter: I was going to focus on this one goal and surround myself with people who understood what I was doing and why, and who could help me along that path.

And so I did, and here’s what I realized at the end of the 100,000 steps it takes to walk 40 miles: My daughter and I are both on a journey. In my case, I  chose it; in hers, it chose her. In both cases, neither of us could have made it without the community in which we found support and solace. Throughout the year, I had wondered at her attachment to her home group: It meets in the most crime-ridden area of town and I couldn’t imagine the kinds of people she’d find there. As it turns out, they were all just people, just like my daughter, Meredith, trying hard to overcome an illness that had claimed them, and that would take their lives if it could. One step at a time, Meredith had made her way through a year, through a journey that challenged and mystified her.  And while the breast cancer walk is a hugely public event—we all dress in pink and we carry signs and posters celebrating survivors, we walk in the streets and cheer, we make jokes about boobs and proclaim “Save the Tatas”—the journey to sobriety is met with stigma and isolation.  

How different might it be, I wonder, if I could stand up in the street and cheer that my daughter has survived this year, if the larger world could recognize the pain and suffering she and others like her had endured, and appreciate the accomplishment of sobriety, rather than judge the victim? What would it be like, I wonder, to stage a walk to support alcohol and drug treatment and recovery? What if we stepped out of the dilapidated room in a community center and rejoiced?

What color would we wear?

• Nearly 70 percent of younger women (age 30-44), many of whom could shortly experience initial symptoms, say they don’t have enough information about menopause;
• Two-thirds of younger women say they do not know most signs and symptoms of menopause
• Nearly a quarter of younger women – 24 percent – say they have more information about symptoms and treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED) than menopause

Additionally, the survey results showed that younger women aren’t aware of some of the most serious and life-altering symptoms of menopause. Only 16 percent of women age 30-44 cited painful intercourse as a symptom of menopause, and only half of women in this age group thought vaginal dryness was a serious symptom. Younger women also showed substantially less understanding that weight gain and insomnia are common menopausal symptoms. In contrast, in women ages 55-60, about 50 percent recognized insomnia and painful intercourse as symptoms of menopause; three-quarters understood vaginal dryness to be a symptom; 58 percent reported weight gain as a symptom. 

“Many younger women have more information about ED than menopause,” said Bobbie Brinegar, Executive Director at OWL. “We need to demystify menopause.”    

Strong majorities of women of all ages – over 90 percent of those surveyed – voiced support for a publicly available, Web-based menopause education program that includes information about how to manage and treat menopausal symptoms. 

“Our survey shows a clear need to educate women about this important juncture in life earlier so they know what to expect and can plan for how they would like to deal with menopause’s symptoms,” said Margaret Huyck, Ph.D., President of OWL. “Getting reliable information earlier will mean better health and higher quality of life outcomes for women in the future.” 

After seeing these survey findings, OWL hopes that these results will build support for a national evidence-based menopause education campaign.

Support for public education is strongest among women who report no conversations with a primary health care provider about menopause and those who are satisfied with the conversations they have had with health care providers.

80% of respondents felt it is important for the federal government to establish a Web site, similar to information Web sites like www.vaccines.gov and www.flu.gov, which could help increase awareness and understanding of menopause and treatment options among women of all ages. 

About the Survey and Methodology

OWL commissioned Global Strategy Group (GSG) to conduct an online survey of women ages 30 to 60.  GSG surveyed 1048 women between August 23 and August 29, 2011.  The margin of error at the 95% confidence level is +/- 3.0%. The margin of error at the subgroup level is greater.

Other Survey Highlights

• Most women are more comfortable discussing menopause and its symptoms with their doctors than they are with their partners, families, and friends.
• 60% of women are most comfortable discussing menopause and its symptoms with their primary health care providers.
• Only about 13% will speak with close friends or family members about the life stage.
• Less than half of women surveyed are comfortable discussing sexual problems they may experience during menopause with their partners.
• There are significant differences among different racial and ethnic groups with regards to how menopause is viewed as impacting sex life.
• 54% of Hispanic women say menopause negatively impacts their sex life, while 42% of white women and 26% of African American women think their sex lives are negatively affected.
• Women both lack information about and are concerned about their treatment options.
• Over 60% of women ages 30-44 and 45-54 say they don’t know enough to make informed decisions on treatment options.
• Over 80% of women worry about possible long-term consequences of their treatments.  

OWL is a 501(c)(3) national grassroots organization founded in 1980 that continues to be the only national membership organization that advocates solely from the perspective of now over 70 million mid-life and older women.

One goal of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), which manages the initiative, is to extend the use and value of Healthy People to those who may not traditionally consider themselves “public health professionals.” These professionals include city planners, educators, and those working in agriculture, labor, veteran’s affairs, housing, and environmental protection.

Healthy People 2020 and Women’s Health

Most Healthy People objectives are focused on improving the health of the general population; however, some topic areas specifically focus on women’s health, including the Family Planning and Maternal, Infant, and Child Health topic areas. Additionally, for the first time, Healthy People includes a topic area on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health. Objectives for this new topic area are currently in development and will be released in the coming months.

By covering important services that help preserve and protect a woman’s health, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also supports many of the objectives related to women’s health in Healthy People 2020. Due to the historic new guidelines that are part of the ACA beginning in August 2012, women will receive important preventive health services at no additional cost. These services include well-woman visits, breastfeeding support, domestic violence screening, and contraception.

To learn more about women’s health services currently covered by the ACA, visit http://www.healthfinder.gov/prevention/ACA-crosswalk.aspx#women.

There are a number of ways individuals can get involved in implementing and spreading the word about Healthy People:

1. Link to HealthyPeople.gov.
2. Follow @gohealthypeople on Twitter.
3. Join over 1,700 public health professionals in our LinkedIn group.
4. Sign up your organization as a Healthy People Consortium Member.
5. Implement Healthy People using the MAP-IT framework.
6. Post a Web badge to your Web site or blog.
7. Mention Healthy People 2020 in your next e-newsletter.
8. Use Healthy People to make the case for funding.
9. Sign up for email updates to stay informed.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, and mental health are one of the greatest health and development challenges of the century, responsible collectively for 2/3 of all deaths worldwide. Though all people the world over are susceptible to the threat of these chronic diseases, this is a women’s health rights and empowerment issue because these diseases impact girls and women differently. At the same time, women are a crucial part of the solution to this crisis.

Arogya World, World YWCA and other organizations have joined forces to form the Women for a Healthy Future movement. We are mobilizing women and men from around the world to sign a petition demanding that world leaders reduce the vulnerability of women and children to NCDs.

As advocates for women’s right to health and empowerment, we call on the world leaders during the forthcoming United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs to consider the following critical factors related to women and NCDs:

1. NCDs have a direct impact on women’s health
NCDs are the #1 killer of women. A staggering 50,000 women lose their lives to NCDs every single day. More than 1,000 women die from cardiovascular disease, one of the four main NCDs, every hour.

Women are uniquely affected by NCDs. New research published in The Lancet (Aug 2011) shows that for women, especially pregnant women, the harmful effects of smoking are even higher than for men. When it comes to coronary heart disease, smoking is 25% more dangerous for women.

In the developing world, the effect of NCDs on women is even more pronounced. Women comprise 60% of the world’s poor, and poverty worsens chances of survival from NCDs. Women in developing countries also cook daily over open flames, and as a result acquire NCDs like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. How can we allow 1.9 million people a year — mostly women and children in developing countries — to die because of everyday cooking?

2. NCDs impact women as caregivers
Women and girls play a critical role in caregiving. At YWCAs around the world, we have seen that when someone at home falls sick and needs extensive care (as is usually the case with chronic NCDs), it is the girls and young women who stay home to provide care. These women fall behind in school, miss work, or are forced to accept lower paying jobs because they need the flexibility to provide home care for a sick family member. Even if a woman doesn’t suffer personally from an NCD, she is often drastically affected.

3. Women are disadvantaged with regard to prevention
While 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and 40% of cancer are preventable through stopping tobacco use, increasing physical activity and improving diet, often these prevention efforts are not accessible to women. When women make up 2/3 of illiterate adults, they are at a great disadvantage to even learn about prevention. Moreover, social and cultural taboos sometimes restrict a woman’s engagement in physical activity, because sport is considered ‘unfeminine.’ We believe that access to sports and physical exercise is not only a right in itself, but also a catalyst for development, leading to the empowerment of women and girls.

4. NCDs are an integral part of maternal and child health
Since low birth weight predisposes a baby to get diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life, it is imperative that we educate pregnant women about good nutrition during pregnancy. In fact, some scholars believe the key to the entire NCD crisis lies in ensuring good health for adolescent girls, before they become pregnant, so that they can have safe and healthy pregnancies and give birth to healthy babies of normal birth weight.

5. NCDs impact the next generation
While women are rightly concerned about the health of other women, they are fiercely concerned about the health and futures of their children. Children have a right to health. They deserve a dynamic future full of hope and happiness, a future where they can live their dreams and become productive world citizens. Aggressive marketing of tobacco products, junk foods and sugary drinks, and alcohol to children and young people is threatening that future. When the future of our children is at stake, women must take action.

The Promise of Women
It is sad that we still have to fight for the basic human right of women and children to good health, despite all the commitments to the world’s women contained in the Beijing Platform for Action, CEDAW, and many other regional and national commitments. But, the truth is that on our watch, in our lifetimes, NCDs have exploded. We must do something about it. This is our responsibility.

Today, we have a chance to to take positive steps in securing women’s health rights. Join us at Women for a Healthy Future. We are calling on all the people of the world, women and men to sign our petition and forward it to other personal and professional networks. On September 19 and 20, world leaders will convene at the United Nations for a summit on NCDs, the second ever UN summit on global health in history. We seek to gather 10,000 signatures to our petition, and we promise to bring your voices to those gathered at the United Nations to ensure that women’s rights are included in the key decisions.

When the world takes care of women, women take care of the whole world.

TEAL is on trend this September. Not only is teal a top fashion color for fall 2011, it’s the color of ovarian cancer awareness—and September is national ovarian cancer awareness month. Here’s how you can help raise awareness of this disease.

To support ovarian cancer awareness you can get involved in the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance’s United States of Teal campaign. The goal of the campaign is to have every state in America teal—which happens when state legislators pledge their support for ovarian cancer awareness. Twenty-four states are already teal—visit www.unitedstatesofteal.org to see if your state supports women with ovarian cancer.

The website also shows how you can contact your state legislators and urge them to pledge their support to the ovarian cancer community. We need your help to raise awareness of the symptoms, and expand federal research to improve treatments and support the development of a desperately needed screening test.

In 2011, more than 21,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 15,000 will die from the disease. If ovarian cancer is treated before it has spread outside the ovary, the five-year survival rate is 93 percent. Tragically, only 19 percent of ovarian cancers are found at such an early stage, which is why it is so important to make women aware of the potential warning signs.

There is no screening test for ovarian cancer, so the Alliance stresses that “until there’s a test, awareness is best.” The symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague and often confused with other medical conditions. Experts recommend that women see a gynecologist if they experience any of the following symptoms for more than a few weeks:

• bloating
• pelvic or abdominal pain
• difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and
• frequent or urgent need to urinate.

You can also show your support for women with ovarian cancer by wearing teal on Friday, September 2. Wear Teal Day helps raise awareness of this deadly disease.

To learn more about the United States of Teal campaign, visit www.unitedstatesofteal.org. For more information about ovarian cancer or the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, visit www.ovariancancer.org.

How do you feel about health-related social networking? Would you join an online health program? What concerns – privacy, quality of service, etc. – do you think this presents?

Read the full text of the Healthcare IT News post here: http://healthcareitnews.com/news/social-media-tools-may-reduce-attrition-online-health-programs

By Saundra Pelletier. In 1965, Griswold v. Connecticut gave a married woman the right to use birth control to prevent or delay pregnancy as she saw fit. This guarantee of a basic human right led to other reforms that allowed millions more American women to decide the direction of their own reproductive lives.  This summer, we are proud to see another key reform go through: starting next year, the Affordable Care Act will allow even more women in the United States to be in charge of their own health by requiring new health plans to provide free birth control without a co-payment. These are hard-fought wins for women’s health and for women’s rights of which we can all be proud, but sadly the ability of a woman to choose when and whether to become pregnant is far from assured in other parts of the world.

Pause for a moment and imagine you’re not American, but from Sub-Saharan Africa – Ethiopia for example. You are 20 years old and have four children – the first of which you had when you were 15 and newly married. You’re worried about becoming pregnant again. You tried to get birth control once, but arrived at the clinic only to find the shelves bare and no way to access any form of birth control.  The thought of another pregnancy, whether by a husband who won’t take no for an answer, or by a stranger who might force his way upon you while making your way to fetch water for the family is overwhelming. You’re not in great health, and another pregnancy would take its toll on your weakened body. The chances are high that you might not survive pregnancy or labor to be able to take care of your family.

Globally, 215 million women would like to be able to prevent or delay pregnancy, but do not have access to the supplies that would allow them to take control of their lives. As American women, we know from our own experience that the ability to make our own fertility decisions has made an immeasurable impact on our own lives. For women in the developing world, access to reproductive health supplies would save lives and improve health, as well as the economic and social well-being of families and communities.

Consider the staggering number that every single day, 1,000 women die due to pregnancy-related complications. Access to contraceptive supplies would mean that unintended pregnancies would drop by more than 70 percent every year. 150,000 maternal deaths would be avoided every year. And 600,000 children would not lose the love and care of their mothers.

Why is it that a private sector product like a Coca-Cola or a mobile phone can get to ‘customers’ yet much-needed health care information and products are beyond reach? This question has perplexed the global health community for decades.

WomanCare Global was founded in 2009 to address the profound problem of maternal mortality that has challenged the reproductive health field. The path is very clear and one word sums up the problem and the solution – ACCESS.  Our “hybrid” model is trying something new – a way of offering women hope because the emphasis is on access to affordable quality products for the women who need them most.  WomanCare Global recognizes the many challenges facing the distribution of healthcare technologies in underserved markets. All too often, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers decide not to invest in low resource settings, limiting product availability in much of the developing world. Additionally, supply-chain gaps keep products from reaching healthcare facilities, providers, and the women they serve.

By identifying innovative reproductive healthcare technologies and utilizing existing distribution channels, WomanCare Global promotes sustainable access to these critical products.

Family planning is one of the most important, cost-effective interventions available in the world today. Every woman, no matter where she lives, deserves access to the lifeline of information and affordable reproductive health products.

This week a true pioneer in women’s health, Dr. Vivian Pinn, announced that she’s retiring from NIH. Vivian was the first Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and tirelessly led that office for almost two decades. But she was more than the leader of ORWH, Vivian has brought wide spread attention to the absence of women participants in biomedical research and the exclusion of women’s health in clinical decision-making. She made it her mission to highlight the importance of sex-specific differences in disease development, progression, and response to clinical interventions. She has tirelessly monitored the landscape of health research for women and has led efforts to set the research priorities. She understands that priorities won’t set themselves; it takes a passionate, intelligent, experienced, and insightful individual, with an incredible amount of support, to gather the right folks and figure out what we still don’t know but need to know.

Dr. Pinn has also been a leader in the effort to increase the representation of women in biomedicine and to make sure that women who pursue careers in health sciences have equal footing with their male colleagues. Looking around NIH today and the vibrant extramural community, women are an integral part of the science that goes on across the US. I know that Vivian can remember a time when that was not the case, in fact she sat amongst only white male classmates in medical school in the 1960’s. What a difference we have seen and we owe so much of that to women like Vivian Pinn.

This is a big loss for all of us who have worked with her over the years, but she leaves behind a robust legacy of putting women’s issues on the radar at NIH. Vivian, we wish you the best. We will keep pushing for women’s health and hope that we will make you proud.

Women for a Healthy Future

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), commonly known as chronic diseases, cause two out of three deaths worldwide, and are the leading cause of death for women around the world.

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tackle NCDs, considered to be one of the 21st century’s greatest health and development challenges. In September, world leaders will gather at the United Nations (UN) for a historic summit on NCDs. The decisions they make will impact the lives of millions.

NCDs threaten women’s lives and our children’s future. Yet, we know that 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and 40% of cancers can be prevented by avoiding tobacco, increasing physical activity and eating healthy foods. It’s going to take strong commitments from the world’s leaders and sweeping policy changes to reduce women’s and children’s vulnerability to NCDs.  

As a result, organizations representing global health, women’s health, child rights, and youth perspectives have come together to form the Women for a Healthy Future movement. This movement is aligned with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s “Every woman. Every child” initiative and is mobilizing women from around the world to demand action against NCDs.

Raise your voices. Sign the petition. Tell your friends.

If we gather 10,000 women’s signatures, we will take them to the media, to world leaders gathered at the UN, and to business leaders. We need your support to show the world how deeply we care, and to ignite action against NCDs.

Resisting these omnipresent temptations requires an incredible amount of individual willpower or habits that go contrary to the average American routine.  Despite my active role in advocating for healthy diet/anti-obesity policies, I succumbed.  Over the past 2 years, I steadily gained weight and was quickly becoming two dress-sizes larger. Then, at my annual physical, my doctor advised that my elevated cholesterol levels needed to be treated.

I knew that I had to go on a diet and stop eating my favorite chocolates, cookies, cakes, bread-and-butter, pasta, rice, creamy soups, and other high calorie comfort foods. I also knew that I could not do this without professional help. My husband would be supportive, but he could not help me do something requiring so difficult an internal, personal change.

I returned to “Attila the Nutritionist,” a stern, no nonsense professional who had treated me 8 years earlier. At that time, I lost more than 35 pounds over about 8 months. We met regularly in person, with more than a few sessions bringing me to tears.  This time, my goal was to lose 20 pounds between February and June, an excruciatingly slow process of about 4 pounds each month for 5 months.

The first two months were an acute, wrenching period of withdrawal from my comfort foods, making me cranky because my cravings were mentally aggravating and physically irritating.  I paid my nutritionist a lot of money so I would stick to the plan, and met her every week for counseling and reinforcement. She gave me a stunning article summarizing the recent book, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite,” by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, MD.  Driven by  struggles with his own weight, Kessler examined the physiological impact of sugar and fat on our brains that do indeed create cravings almost as compelling as addictions. This is not an excuse to keep eating comfort foods, but it helped me understand why I felt so irritable and impatient. 

I stayed on track because I was doing it as much for my nutritionist’s approval as for the need to reach my own goal.  I taped her picture to my computer monitor at work, on my refrigerator, and in my wallet in front of my credit cards as a reminder that she was watching me.  I turned in a food diary each week, got on the scale, and described how I had “courageously” resisted temptation.

I went “cold turkey” on sweets.  I know this sounds harsh, and I doubted that I could do it.  I haven’t had a cookie, piece of cake, chocolate or candy since late January.  This is quite a personal victory.  My desserts and treats have been berries and melon and oranges and frozen bananas.  I find that these taste so much sweeter, now, than when they competed with sugary confections.

To my great misery, reaching my target weight was not the end of the process.  Yes, I am happy that I can fit into my old dress size, and that my cholesterol level dropped from 241 to 182 without increasing my drug dose. When I asked how to maintain my new weight, thinking that I could return to some of my old habits, my nutritionist said that I needed to recognize my “new normal.”  I’ve been hearing this concept from the perspective of permanent, irreversible government budget cutbacks, particularly in state and local health and human services programs.  But I am still trying to internalize my own “new normal,” that is, being happy on 1400 calories a day.  “Normal” food portions for me are smaller than the “average” servings in restaurants, so I need to share a dish, take half home, or leave food on my plate. 

Since I am “addicted” to sugar, my “new normal” is to abstain all together. My mantra:  sugar is poison; sugar is my enemy.  My nutritionist said, “Look at the people in line buying the double-scoop ice cream. Do you want to look like them?” 

If I gain a pound, I will need at least 7 to 10 days to lose it, reverting to a 1200-calorie-per-day diet.  I am still trying to convince myself that managing my “new normal” will make me to feel happier about being in control of my life and weight.  I remind myself that I want to break the cycle of dieting then gaining back the weight, since it gets harder every time. 

For now, I am on my own for the summer.  I have my list of my “new normal” daily food servings clipped on my refrigerator.  And an appointment with my nutritionist for a “check-in” in early November, to strategize on resisting the temptations of the holiday season.