In the United States, health disparities are one of the significant challenges for the government. It is vital to ensure the access of all citizens to high-quality healthcare services. Therefore, federal and state agencies work to provide necessary conditions to different vulnerable population groups. One of these groups is women as they tend to face more health issues due to the existence of disparities between them.
There are numerous federal agencies in the United States that intended to improve women’s health all over the country. One of the priorities of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to create a healthier nation by informing the citizens on the methods of treatment and prevention of diseases. For this purpose, the Office on Women’s Health (OWH) as a part of the Department was established in 1991 (Office on Women’s Health, 2018). The Office collaborates with federal agencies to make the healthcare system more efficient.
Since its establishment, it has developed a row of healthcare programs. They intend to educate patients and healthcare providers and address critical women’s health issues (Office on Women’s Health, 2018). The specialists from OWH research disease prevention and the improvement of the quality of medical services. Thus, they plan to improve the health conditions of all the women and girls in the country.
There are also non-profit organizations that seek to achieve the same goals. Some of the examples of these organizations are the United State of Women, UnidosUS, and the Black Women’s Health Imperative. They complement the efforts of the federal agencies to provide affordable services to all vulnerable groups of women (Seven organizations promoting women’s health, 2018). However, the work of non-profit organizations does not stop on the achievement of essential services provision. They also intend to provide women with information on the availability of medical services. To this end, they launched a campaign called Care Women Deserve to educate them about the services (Seven organizations promoting women’s health, 2018). The initiative of the creation of healthcare services and campaigns contributes to better women’s health.
California’s authorities are developing additional healthcare programs for women. One of the known initiatives is Every Woman Counts (EWC). It provides free medical services, such as breast cancer screening and diagnostics, to vulnerable population groups. They aim to prevent cancer and inform the women on the related services (California state-funded programs, 2020). Therefore, the lack of insurance or low income is not the reason for women of the state not to have regular screenings and take other preventive measures. If a woman in California is diagnosed with any type of cancer, EWC would offer her free or, if she does not qualify for it, low-cost treatment programs.
The cooperation of federal agencies with non-profit organizations and state initiatives contributes to the better health of all the women of the vulnerable population groups. The preventive measures, education of the women, and free or low-cost treatment allow providing necessary medical services to a larger number of people in the United States. The health status of the entire population of the country depends directly on the efforts of numerous agencies to eliminate health disparities and provide services to the people in equal amounts.
References
California state-funded programs. (2020). Web.
Seven organizations promoting women’s health launch a new campaign on preventive services for women. (2018). Web.
Office on Women’s Health. (2018). Vision, mission, goals, and history. Web.