Women's Health Agenda

Home > OWH Home > Regional Offices and Programs > Region X > Women's Health Agenda

The Region X women's health agenda reflects many of the initiatives and projects of the Office on Women's Health, with the regional program staff serving as strong advocates and resources for state, local and community-based contacts. Region X has established the following regional women's health initiatives while addressing the need to examine racial ethnic health disparities and comprehensive cultural and linguistic needs of populations that cut across regional initiatives:

• Provide accurate data to assess the state of women's health across Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to prioritize efforts and direct funds to address needs and provide access to regional women's health data by supporting training and distribution of the Health Status of Women in Region X, an outcome of the HHS Office on Women's Health national database project
• Address the importance of oral health access across the lifespan to ensure good health for women and their families by supporting efforts to incorporate oral health as an important component of regional activities
• Promote outreach to underserved and rural communities by networking with local health jurisdictions and community-based organizations that serve them
• Collaborate with the Oregon Health and Science University's (OHSU) Center of Excellence (CoE) in Women's Health and other research and service centers to support comprehensive and integrated health care services, multidisciplinary research, public and professional education, training, community linkages for health services and programs, and leadership positions for women in academic medicine
• Address the findings of The National and State-By-State Report Card on Women's Health by collaborating with the OHSU CoE in Women's Health, whose Center Director is an author of the Report Card
• Participate on advisory committees and HHS workgroups across Federal agencies and programs to ensure that women's health issues are addressed
• Partner with other Federal agencies and programs within and outside HHS to educate women at health fairs, summits, conferences, workshops and training
• Partner with communities and providers on activities to support HHS initiatives that include: National Women's Health Week, Pick Your Path to Health, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day for Women and Girls, World AIDS Day and Take A Loved One to a Check up Day.
• Support and prioritize communication and collaboration region-wide through: regional-state meetings with state women's health contacts, attendance and participation on state and local meetings and conferences, participation in Region X Office of the Regional Health Administrator brown bag sessions, participation on planning committee of the national state and territorial women's health summit, and coordination and oversight of the regional women's health email list and distribution of resource information at exhibits.
• Provide volunteer internships to mentor individuals and promote careers in public health and research and foster the recruitment of new talent for public service

Some specific activities addressed within the agenda include:

• Sexual assault and domestic violence and the co-occurrence of mental health and substance abuse by supporting activities of the Alaska Net work Against Domestic Violence and Washington State Coalition against Domestic Violence and other advocacy organizations
• Personal responsibility for health lifestyles and behaviors across the lifespan, with emphasis on adolescents through the sponsorship of and participation on regional youth summits in collaboration with the Region X Office of Family Planning and Office of Minority Health and Comprehensive Health Education Foundation, Girls, Inc. and the Girl Scouts of America and local communities
• Educate women across the lifespan of their risk for cardiovascular disease as the #1 killer of women by partnering with local communities on The Heart Truth Campaign and regional CDC WISEWOMAN programs
• Educate Alaska Natives of their risk for high blood pressure and stroke by supporting state-wide activities of the Take Heart Alaska Coalition
• Promote healthy lifestyle change to incorporate nutrition and physical activity to prevent overweight and obesity and chronic disease through the Region X ORHA Food, Physical Activity and Body Weight regional Conference, collaboration with NIDDK, NIH and supporting activities of state partners across the region
• Participation at quarterly meetings of the Washington's Women's Health Resource Network and Oregon's Women's Health Education Network
• Educate women regarding financial security issues across the lifespan of women's health in partnership with the Department of Labor Women's Bureau
• Address unique cancer burdens by collaborating with state Comprehensive Cancer Control Programs
• Partner with the OHSU Center for Health Disparities Research and the Oregon Mexico Health Professionals Exchange to increase mutual understanding about health care issues faced by people of Mexican origin living in Oregon and to improve health services and health status of the immigrant population
• Collaborate with Region X Federal programs on MMA activities and educate women about opportunities for enrollment in the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan
• Partner with Oregon Health and Science University and Research!America on the "Making the Headlines" conference to promote collaboration between the media and public health researchers

Content last updated October 1, 2005.