:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/DWTMNVWJPVDLBD33PMKZUQDNF4.jpg "Jill Biden announces allocation of 100 million for women’s health research")
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden announced Wednesday a $100 million allocation of federal funds for research and development in women’s health, as part of a new White House initiative led by her.
The funding is the first milestone of the White House Initiative for Women’s Health Research, which was announced last year. The item comes from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which depends on the Department of Health and Human Services.
The first lady is scheduled to announce the ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health during an event Wednesday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Biden has said women don’t know enough about their health because research has historically been underfunded and scarce. The White House initiative seeks to change the focus and increase funding for research in this field.
“We will close the gaps, accelerate new ideas and change the lives of women,” the first lady will say, according to excerpts of the prepared speech shared with The Associated Press.
“We will build a health system that puts women and their lived experiences at the center (…) in which no woman or girl does not have to hear that ‘it’s all in your head’ or that ‘it’s just stress’; where women are not an afterthought, but first, and where women not only survive, but live long, healthy, happy lives,” she will add.
Joe Biden created ARPA-H in 2022 to work to advance the search for solutions to health problems. The agency is part of what he calls his “unity agenda.”
In the coming weeks, the agency will solicit ideas for pioneering research and development to address women’s health, according to the White House.
The first lady said last year, when the White House initiative was announced, that it grew out of a meeting she had with Maria Shriver, a women’s health activist and former first lady of California.