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About the Office on Women's Health
3. MODEL PROGRAMS IN WOMEN'S HEALTH
NATIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN WOMEN'S HEALTH (CoEs)
- Established by: HHS OWH in 1996. As of mid-2006, located in 20 academic health centers across the nation and Puerto Rico.
- Purpose: The CoE model unites women's health research, medical training, clinical and preventive care, public health education, community outreach, and the promotion of women in academic medicine around a common mission: to improve the health status of women across diverse ages, races, ethnic groups, and backgrounds.
- Goals: To help eliminate disparities in health care among populations of women and between men and women. To serve as demonstration models for the nation to provide innovative, comprehensive, and integrated health care systems for women. To establish and evaluate a new integrated health care system.
- Background: The CoEs develop partnerships with state and local governments, community organizations, and other academic institutions to increase women's access to care and to improve the delivery of health care. More than half of the CoEs provide services and outreach into surrounding rural areas.
NATIONAL COMMUNITY CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN WOMEN'S HEALTH (CCOEs)
- Established by: HHS OWH in September 2000, with HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Office of Minority Health (OMH). As of mid-2006, 14 sites across the nation: 6 are located in community health centers, 5 in community hospitals, 2 in community health care organizations, and 1 in an Area Health Education Center.
- Purpose: The CCOEs are designed to integrate, coordinate, and strengthen linkages between healthcare programs and activities for women that are already underway in the community.
- Goals: To serve as demonstration models for the nation to provide innovative, comprehensive, and integrated health care systems for underserved women at the community level. To help eliminate disparities in health care among populations of women and between men and women. To integrate community health services at local clinics and hospitals with research and public outreach.
- Background: This grant cooperative agreement program follows a similar model as the CoEs but on a community level. The CCOE program provides recognition and funding for community-based programs that coordinate the delivery of health services for women, particularly preventive services; training for lay workers and professional health providers; community-based research; public education and outreach; leadership development for women; and technical assistance to other communities that want to replicate the CCOE program.
- Evaluation: In May 2004, an external evaluation report found the CCOE program to be meeting and at times exceeding the goals and objectives set forth by OWH. Six core components: Improving access to and integrating women's health care services; training for lay and professional health care providers; community-based research; public education and outreach; leadership development for women; technical assistance to support replication of successful models and strategies.
- Publication: A How To Manual on becoming a CCOE has been drafted and is undergoing internal review. Developed to help other community entities establish CCOE models at their sites. Anticipated release date is Fall 2006.
THE CoE AND CCOE AMBASSADORS FOR CHANGE PROGRAM
- Developed by: HHS OWH in FY2005
- Purpose: To continue the comprehensive, integrated models of women's health care developed by the CoEs and CCOEs. To provide advice and guidance to other organizations interested in developing or implementing these unique models of care.
- Members: Those CoEs and CCOEs that have been chosen to fulfill additional responsibilities beyond the requirements of being selected as a National or Community Center of Excellence in Women's Health. As of mid-2006, three CoEs and three CCOEs were chosen to serve as "Ambassadors for Change".
- Other Requirements: Four other factors are required: 1) an ability to integrate all of components of the CoE and CCOE programs; 2) a capability to manage and sustain this project; 3) an agreement to serve as a technical consultant to other sites; and 4) to maintain existing partnerships and develop new ones within their region, neighboring regions, and government-sponsored agencies and organizations.
NATIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN WOMEN'S HEALTH (CoEs) REGION VIII DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
- First Awarded by: Region VIII, HHS OWH in 2004.
- Overview of Region VIII: Comprises Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. In terms of demographics, women in Region VIII are primarily white. American Indian women and Latinas are the largest minority populations in this region. The region is very much a rural and frontier area with only a few large metropolitan areas. Some key women's health issues in Region VIII are heart disease, stroke, cancers, access to care, mental health, suicide, domestic violence, and substance abuse.
- Purpose: These demonstration projects, along with existing CoEs, are working to develop effective comprehensive and integrated approaches for improving women's health, including the delivery of services. To bring high-quality health care to women in Region VIII, including minority and underserved women in this rural frontier area.
- Sites: As of mid-2006, the three Demonstration Projects are the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota.
NATIONAL RURAL AND FRONTIER WOMEN'S HEALTH COORDINATING CENTERS (RFCCs)
- First funded by: HHS OWH in September 2004.
- Sites: As of mid-2006, 11 RFCCs are located in Arizona, Utah, Tennessee, New Mexico, Colorado, Kentucky, Nevada, Wisconsin, Wyoming, New Hampshire.
- Purpose: To help eliminate disparities in health care among populations of women and between men and women. To identify, coordinate, and build upon a network of existing resources to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to women and their families in rural and frontier communities. No new community resources will be funded from this effort.
- Background: HHS created an Initiative on Rural Communities in 2001 to improve and enhance health care and human services for people who live in rural America. It is estimated that approximately one-fourth of the total U.S. population lives in rural areas. When compared to urban Americans, rural and frontier residents have higher poverty rates, tend to be in poorer health, have fewer physicians, and fewer other health resources. Rural/frontier women are also more likely to suffer from heart disease, hypertension and cancer than urban women residents.
COMPREHENSIVE WOMEN'S HEART HEALTH CARE PROGRAM
- Grants supported by: HHS OWH in FY2005 and FY2006
- Project: Demonstration projects designed to improve, enhance, and evaluate comprehensive women's heart health care programs in hospitals, clinics, and community health centers
- Purpose: To reduce heart disease mortality and morbidity among women. To increase the number of high-risk women who receive high-quality heart health care services, including education, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.
- Program: Six grants have been awarded. Each grantee is required to offer a continuum of gender-appropriate heart health care services by integrating five components: Education and Awareness, Screening and Risk Assessment, Diagnostic Testing and Treatment, Lifestyle Modification and Rehabilitation, and Tracking and Evaluation. The grantees are also required to target high-risk women in at least one of the following groups: women aged 60 years or older, racial/ethnic minority women, and women who live in rural communities. These programs will provide the data necessary to evaluate whether comprehensive women's heart health care programs are effective in improving heart disease outcomes in high-risk women.
NATIONAL FAITH-BASED AND NATIONAL COMMUNITY CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR HIGH-RISK WOMEN
- Grants supported by: HHS OWH in FY2006
- Project: A new grant program focused on reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among high-risk racial/ethnic minority women, aged 40 years and older.
- Purpose: To reduce cardiovascular disease mortality and morbidity in racial/ethnic minority populations in the United States through screening, counseling, and risk-behavior modification.
- Program: As many as four grants will be awarded, with each grantee selecting 10 faith-based or community-based sites where the program will be implemented. The education phase of the program will consist of eight bi-monthly sessions that will counsel women on all of the major risk factors for CVD: smoking, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, and physical inactivity. The maintenance phase of the program will consist of regularly scheduled, interactive maintenance sessions that will be designed by program participants. During both phases, participants will be screened for all six major risk factors for CVD.
- Project Goal: For program participants to increase their level of physical activity and establish or maintain a healthy weight over the course of the program.
PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
- Funded by: HHS OWH in FY20005
- Project: Funds will be directed to activities designed to deliver services that target immigrant women populations affected disproportionately by violence against women. The services will be appropriate for women living in immigrant communities as well culturally and linguistically appropriate.
HIV/AIDS DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
- Established by: HHS OWH in 2000.
- Purpose: To address persistent gaps in services for women living with, or at risk for, HIV, AIDS, or other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). To develop successful projects that can be replicated in other communities across the United States.
- The Incarcerated and Newly Released Women with HIV/AIDS/STDs Program. Demonstration projects for incarcerated and newly released minority women living with HIV, AIDS, and STDs.
- The Mentoring Partnership Program. Partnerships consist of organizations that serve as mentors or as protégés. Demonstration projects for women- and community-based organizations to receive programmatic, administrative, fiscal, and technical assistance from experienced minority health organizations. Both mentors and protégés receive funding. Establishes mentorships between minority health organizations and women's organizations, or between minority health organizations and AIDS service organizations (ASOs), or both. Through mentoring, small organizations become better prepared to operate their agencies and implement successful HIV/AIDS programs independently.
- HIV/AIDS Prevention for Women Living in the Rural South Program. Demonstration projects for women-based, community organizations to provide accurate and comprehensive education on HIV prevention. These projects address myths and false information about the disease, issues of stigma, healthy behaviors, and denial.
- Program Evaluations: A three-year evaluation of these programs was developed by HHS OWH in FY2005.
A PILOT PROGRAM: INTERGENERATIONAL APPROACHES TO HIV/AIDS PREVENTION EDUCATION FOR WOMEN ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
- Funded by: HHS OWH in FY2005/2006
- Projects: Awardees develop and pilot programs that educate racial/ethnic minority women of all ages—across the lifespan—about preventing HIV/AIDS. These approaches must be specific to the needs of minority women who are grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and aunts. To reach three generations of minority women requires strategies that are built upon caring, trusting familial relationships.
- Goals: For minority women to elect to know their serostatus; to increase their knowledge about preventing HIV/AIDS; and to gain skills in communicating about health, and sexual health in particular, to other women of all ages.
HIV PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN LIVING IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
- Established by: HHS OWH
- Audience: Women living in the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Program Goals: To provide these women with accurate and comprehensive information about 1) preventing HIV/AIDS, and 2) healthy behaviors they can adopt to improve their mental and physical health.
HIV PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN LIVING IN PUERTO RICO
- Established by: HHS OWH
- Audience: Women living in Puerto Rico who practice high-risk behaviors for acquiring HIV.
- Program Goals: To increase access to care for women living with HIV, to increase their knowledge about protective behaviors, and to reduce their sense of isolation. Education strategies address women-specific issues about HIV/AIDS, stigma, shame, and access to care.
IN COMMUNITY SPIRIT: HIV PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR AMERICAN INDIAN/ ALASKA NATIVE WOMEN LIVING IN RURAL AND FRONTIER AREAS
- Funded by: HHS OWH, beginning in FY2005.
- Program Goals: To develop educational strategies for preventing HIV/AIDS in these women. To increase their awareness of HIV/AIDS and the increasing impact of these conditions on women and girls. To integrate the traditions, values, culture, and spirituality indigenous to these communities into HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.
HIV PREVENTION PROGRAM FOR YOUNG WOMEN ATTENDING MINORITY INSTITUTIONS, HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS, AND TRIBAL COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
- Funded by: HHS OWH in FY2005/2006
- Program Goals: To demonstrate the need for targeting HIV/AIDS prevention programs to college-age minority women. To increase this population's understanding of their increased vulnerability for acquiring HIV/AIDS. To promote the practice of ABC—Practice Abstinence, Be Faithful, Use Condoms—in this population.
BREASTFEEDING DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
- Funded by: HHS OWH in August 2005.
- Project: Seven community-based projects for 2006 were funded during National Breastfeeding Awareness Month in August 2005. Nine breastfeeding coalitions and community-based projects were funded for World Breastfeeding Awareness Month and related events in 2006. These projects raised awareness in the media and through local events of the importance of new mothers exclusively breastfeeding newborns for the first six months.
ADDRESSING PRE-DIABETES IN FAMILIES
- Funded by: HHS OWH in 2005 through 2006 to four small businesses.
- Purpose: To increase awareness of the importance of physical activity and good nutrition in preventing pre-diabetes, diabetes, and obesity. To develop and implement interventions, programs and materials that will effectively address pre-diabetes in families to reduce the risk of intergenerational development of diabetes and its resulting complications.
- Goals: Programs were designed to reach women and family members most at risk in developing type 2 diabetes: minorities, people who are overweight, and people who are inactive. Healthy behaviors were emphasized, including regular exercise and a healthy diet, to reduce obesity and the incidence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
- Background: Diabetes is a serious chronic disease that can be managed through lifestyle changes and medication. Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes and another 41 million have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but are not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and for heart disease and stroke.
TARGETING OBESITY IN YOUNG WOMEN TO PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OF TYPE II DIABETES
- Funded by: HHS OWH in 2006 through 2007. Five organizations will be awarded grants.
- Purpose: To develop programs targeting obesity in young women, especially ages 16–24. To develop programs that will encourage behavioral change and promote healthy habits around daily physical activity, portion control, and good nutrition. To reach young women in an age group that is rarely targeted for obesity interventions.
- Background: This grant program was developed in response to HHS-wide objectives, particularly, emphasizing healthy living and preventing disease, illness, and disability.
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Current as of October 2006
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