{"id":326250,"date":"2026-03-12T16:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326250\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:43:16","slug":"womens-health-has-federal-offices-should-men-have-one-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326250\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s health has federal offices. Should men have one, too?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The early 1990s were a watershed moment for female health. In 1990, the Office of Research on Women\u2019s Health was founded within the National Institutes of Health to ensure women were included in medical research. A year later, an Office on Women\u2019s Health was established within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate research, education, and resources. The Women\u2019s Health Initiative<\/a> \u2014 one of the largest studies of women\u2019s health \u2014 was launched. And in 1994, the Food and Drug Administration established its own Office of Women\u2019s Health to test the safety of FDA-approved medications, which until then had no specific requirements for including women in studies.<\/p>\n

From increasing uptake of screening mammograms to conducting research that led to the Violence Against Women Act, the impact of these programs on women\u2019s health and wellness is hard to overstate<\/a>, though disparities in funding and research continue; substantial NIH funding<\/a> was not specifically allocated to women\u2019s health research until 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody seems more aware of this than men\u2019s health advocates. \u201cThe Office of Women\u2019s Health has done spectacular things for women on so many levels,\u201d said Paul Turek, director of the Turek Clinic and a longtime men\u2019s health advocate. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a template to follow that\u2019s been incredibly successful,\u201d said Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, who directs men\u2019s health and urology at NYU Langone and has been pushing for years for men\u2019s health to get its own office within the HHS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This could finally be their moment.<\/p>\n

Adm. Brian Christine, an HHS assistant secretary for health, is a urologist and men\u2019s health expert. He has made public comments about his commitment to making male health<\/a> a priority within the MAHA agenda, including while introducing an expert panel on testosterone therapy<\/a> late last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, in February, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the House, sponsored by Louisiana Democrat\u00a0Carter Troy and co-sponsored by North Carolina Republican Gregory Murphy. The State of Men\u2019s Health Act<\/a>, which has been assigned to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, calls for a report on the state of men\u2019s health and the creation of a dedicated office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tShould semen analysis become the Pap smear for men? Some men\u2019s health experts say yes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is to simply get the office established inside Health and Human Services because \u2026 they don\u2019t really have a sense of how to address men\u2019s health,\u201d said Ronald Henry, the founder and president of the Men\u2019s Health Network, a nonprofit that helped draft and promote the bill to mandate the federal government \u201cstart paying attention to men\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p>\n

While similar bills have been introduced in every Congressional session since 2000, the 119th may be the charm. The bill has four sponsors so far, and unlike in the past, they\u2019re evenly split between the parties. Congressional staffers told STAT they are hopeful about the possibility of this bill moving forward. Not only did the American Urological Association<\/a> work on drafting the measure, the American Medical Association endorsed it for the first time. Adding to the men\u2019s health momentum, the AMA\u2019s president-elect, Willie Underwood, is a urologist and men\u2019s health expert, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis office would be the captain that would help to steer the boat of men\u2019s health in[to] the next century,\u201d said Turek. \u201cI am deeply excited that this is the time for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case for a federal office of men\u2019s health<\/p>\n

The quintessential case for an office of men\u2019s health, advocates say, is embodied by the last congressman to introduce it: Donald Payne Jr., a Democrat from New Jersey. In his time in office, he proposed several pieces of legislation around men\u2019s health, including the Men\u2019s Health Awareness and Improvement Act<\/a> of 2021 and several attempts to institute a national men\u2019s health week<\/a>. None gained traction.<\/p>\n

Payne died in 2024 at the age of 66, due to complications from diabetes \u2014 precisely the kind of issue he hoped the office would address. Men represent the majority of diabetes patients in the U.S., and are more likely to die from it as they are from other chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a life expectancy of 75.8 years, American men live on average 5.3 years less than women, and have much shorter lives than their peers in other wealthy nations. They have a higher cancer mortality and die of suicide four times as much as women (who attempt it more often<\/a> but have less access to guns). Overall, U.S. men\u2019s health is worse than women\u2019s across all socioeconomic and racial groups, and their higher mortality and morbidity is estimated to cost federal and local governments more than $140 billion, and close to $160 billion in private costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments around the world are increasingly recognizing the need for coordinated approaches to improving men\u2019s health outcomes,\u201d said Okey Enyia, a health policy researcher and consultant focusing on health equity. Australia, the U.K., and Ireland have recently passed men\u2019s health initiatives, he said, and Canada is working on it. In the U.S., while only five years ago Payne\u2019s effort was limited to Democratic support, today the attention is bipartisan, reflecting a broader movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Male health is very much in the zeitgeist, and politicians are taking notice. Podcasters<\/a> and influencers<\/a> get millions of people to listen to discussions about men\u2019s health, the business of testosterone therapy<\/a> is booming<\/a>, looksmaxxers appear to be the people of the year<\/a>, and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <\/a>is channeling the newfound centrality of men\u2019s health (and a kind of \u201cman-up\u201d approach to health). At the same time, institutionally, shifts are happening: notably, the American Nurses Association has recently established men\u2019s health as a specialty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about politics, this is about something good for society,\u201d said Sadeghi-Nejad. He was excited about the bipartisan nature of the bill, and heartened to see genuine excitement among congressmen and their staffers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time where we\u2019ve gotten as much support from some of the big institutional players,\u201d said Henry, the Men\u2019s Health Network president.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy men are flocking to dubious online clinics for testosterone therapy<\/a><\/p>\n

Thinking of men\u2019s health and women\u2019s health as a dichotomy may come instinctively, but proponents of the office strongly reject the idea that increased attention on men\u2019s health would come at the expense of women\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one, the bill stipulates that funding for men\u2019s health initiatives should not come from resources allocated to women\u2019s health programs and offices. The first priority is to review the resources already available for men\u2019s health programs, said Henry. \u201cIt does not require any additional money,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a conceptual standpoint, too, improving men\u2019s health and women\u2019s health \u201care absolutely critical parts of a comprehensive public health strategy,\u201d said Helen Bernie, the director of men\u2019s sexual and reproductive health at Indiana University and a professor of urology. \u201cPublic health isn\u2019t a zero-sum conversation. Women\u2019s health initiatives have made important progress and are currently making important progress, but there are still many gaps there as well,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at the same time, men also experience significant disparities in life expectancy and preventive care engagement, so addressing both is ultimately what strengthens the health of families and communities in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focus on preventive care<\/p>\n

Experts differ over their priorities for an office of men\u2019s health, though most agree on the importance of focusing on preventive care. \u201cMany of the conditions that disproportionately affect men, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, can be prevented or better managed through early detection,\u201d said Enyia. \u201cYet men are significantly less likely than women to access routine health care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bernie said the office could \u201clead national efforts around preventive screenings, cardiovascular risk detection, mental health awareness, and early identification of metabolic disease,\u201d adding that \u201cif we can get men into the health care system earlier and more consistently, then we can dramatically improve outcomes.\u201d Sadeghi-Nejad said he would like to see a focus on disseminating information and education, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dominick Shattuck, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University and a men\u2019s health fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men, said the office should work to \u201cfacilitate some early entry points into the health system for men \u2026 in late adolescence and early adulthood, where a lot of young men kind of get lost to the health system.\u201d He stressed that this should include mental health screenings and initiatives to foster community engagement, with the goal of reducing suicides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tHow testosterone fell out of favor in medicine \u2014 and how it came back<\/a><\/p>\n

For Adrian Dobs, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine and oncology at Johns Hopkins University, the first order of business should be studying why men die earlier and get sick more than women. \u201cIt\u2019s never really been looked at systematically enough,\u201d she said, noting the need to identify the diagnoses most likely to drive up deaths, and why they affect men more than women. She\u2019d like to see more data to improve understanding of what puts younger men at increased risk of suicide or accidents, and drive programs to reduce their occurrence.<\/p>\n

How to evaluate the accomplishments of a men\u2019s health office is another area of debate. Turek suggested tracking \u201clives screened\u201d as a measure of awareness and engagement, and \u201clives saved\u201d as the ultimate measure of successful intervention. Others concurred that in the long run, mortality would provide the most important feedback on whether the office and its programs are effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enyia, however, cautions that assessments should be done through disaggregated data, both to design policies and measure their success. \u201cImprovements in average outcomes can sometimes mask persistent disparities affecting specific populations,\u201d he said. \u201cMeasuring progress across race, socioeconomic status, geography, and other factors helps ensure that improvements in men\u2019s health are broadly shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

This push to give men\u2019s health a dedicated office comes as the Trump administration is putting significant effort into establishing gender as binary, and seeking to end opportunities for gender-affirming health<\/a> for trans people. During his swearing-in ceremony, Christine discussed his own gender identity to make the point that his leadership would differ from his predecessor\u2019s, Rachel Levine, a trans woman. \u201cI submit to you today that there is no more visible sign of that change than this. I stand before you a man in a man\u2019s uniform,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts STAT spoke with said it would be important for the office to be inclusive, while cautioning against letting this issue detract from the fundamental goals of the office. Further, many noted the need for specific research to identify the health needs of trans men.<\/p>\n

While there are differences in what they would prioritize, how they would proceed, and how they would assess progress, the experts agree that the first order of business is getting the office established, and caution against pursuing narrow interests as something that could delay a goal that finally seems within reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important \u201cthat we pay attention to avoid division and fragmentation,\u201d said Sadeghi-Nejad, \u201cso that we work together and we coordinate our efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

STAT\u2019s coverage of health challenges facing men and boys is supported by Rise Together, a donor advised fund sponsored and administered by National Philanthropic Trust and established by Richard Reeves, founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men; and by the Boston Foundation. Our\u00a0financial supporters<\/a>\u00a0are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The early 1990s were a watershed moment for female health. In 1990, the Office of Research on Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14416,8310,134,527,40330,122028,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-326250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-chronic-disease","tag-congress","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hhs","tag-mens-and-boys-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}