Women’s health: New network aims to drive research in key areas

Women represent half of the population, yet investment in women’s health is distinctly lacking, and many conditions lack tailored prevention, diagnosis and management strategies and remain poorly understood.

What we do know is that women face unique health challenges: one in five women of reproductive age lives with obesity, which can affect reproductive health, pregnancy outcomes and intergenerational health; endometriosis affects an estimated 155,000 of women; young women in Ireland have the highest levels of negative mental health; heart disease and stroke account for a quarter of all female deaths in Ireland; and almost 3,600 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Ireland every year (30% of all cancer diagnoses).

In an effort to drive investment in women’s health and to boost research in these and other key areas, the School of Population Health at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences has launched a Women’s Health Research Network.

“Our goal is to aid as many scientists in population health to generate reliable evidence-informed policies to improve women’s health for this generation and the next. There are a lot of challenges in Ireland. In general, investment in research is chronic, but even more so in women’s health, which has been under-represented in Ireland’s research agenda for far too long.

“We need a long-term investment strategy to secure dedicated funding from national agencies.

“Increasing opportunities for early and mid-career researchers is also critical to training and retaining the next generation of women’s health scientists in Ireland,” says Dr Angela Flynn, co-founder of the Women’s Health Research Network at RCSI.

Although conversations around specific conditions in women’s health are starting to happen online and in the media, Dr Flynn says that for care to improve we need investment in research and innovation.

Dr Flynn’s own research focus is on maternal health.

She explains that the challenge with research in this area is not a lack of interest from women; it’s dedicated funding.

“So many women are eager to participate. They want to share their experiences and improve care for future generations.

“But what is lacking is the dedicated funding for research on women’s health, and I think without that investment, then the evidence base will remain incomplete, and the health needs of women in Ireland will continue to be underserved.”

Cork native Dr Caroline Kelleher joined RCSI in 2012.

She had an interest in sexual health, STIs, HIV, and different behaviours, and through her research post in RCSI, she started doing secondary data analysis on some sexual health data sets.

Over the years, Dr Kelleher has received funding for several research projects: behavioral indicators for STIs and HIV; HIV prep and the public STI clinics; and a scoping study for the next Sexual Health Survey.

She was also heavily involved in the We Consent national campaign, that focused on bringing consent into normal conversations, and is part of the Active Consent programme in University College Galway, which has been developed into a programme that’s being run through the Higher Education Network.

These are examples of successful projects that are beginning to make a difference and change the conversation around consent and sexual health.

Dr Kelleher believes the Women’s Health Network will be instrumental in bringing researchers together to aid collaboration and amplify key research.

“The network has created a critical mass of researchers working together, allowing them to collaborate more effectively across different departments in the School of Population Health.

“It also connects researchers closely with hospitals and clinical settings, providing opportunities for more integrated research, and allows researchers to influence current healthcare practices and future healthcare leaders through teaching and research.”

Both Dr Flynn and Dr Kelleher agree there is more public interest in women’s health now, and more political interest, but this needs to translate into action.

“It is a great time to be working as a scientist in women’s health. But there are still barriers that we need to address.

“It is great that we’re having those conversations now but we do need the funding from national funders.

“If you want to produce research, we need scientists, so we need to train more scientists and have more research leaders in the field.

“We need more PhDs. We need more postdocs. We need to provide more stable career paths for women’s health researchers, including permanent academic physicians at the major research institute in Ireland.

“Ultimately, we need a better infrastructure for women’s health research in Ireland, including women’s health research institutes in Ireland so that we have dedicated organisations producing the research that is going to inform policy,” says Dr Flynn.

Above all, Dr Kelleher says the funding to support research into women’s health is critical.

“It needs to be mainstreamed. This isn’t just a women’s issue. This is a whole society issue. This is something that benefits everybody.”