The government’s decision to launch a women’s health strategy for England is excellent news for the health of the nation.

There are clearly many areas of health where the current approach does not lead to the best outcomes for women. We wrote about one last week (Research suggests oestrogen protects women from Covid-19). Female health attacks are often under-recognised. Many drugs are tested on men with the result that they work less well on women. The list goes on.

Next: a men's strategy

This is the welcome, and long over-due, first step to gender-sensitive healthcare. The logical next step is men’s health strategy of the type the Forum has been calling for for some time and which the Women and Equalities Committee in the last parliament backed. Many of you may even have signed the petition already.

We also need similar strategies for all the countries of the UK.

The vaccine committee, the JCVI, has already recognised the importance of considering gender. Now the government has. The announcement of the women’s strategy has been timed for International Women’s Day (8 March). How about announcing the launch of the men’s health strategy in this year’s Men’s Health Week (14-21 June)?

Jim Pollard,
​Editor