Trump signs executive order on women's health
"Who the hell wouldn't have a women's health division?" President Trump said Monday.
Key points
- Trump signed an executive order creating a women's health division at NIH and a White House task force.
- Melania Trump listed five goals, including AI-accelerated discoveries and affordable breakthroughs for women.
- NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said the amount of funding for the project is still undetermined.
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday creating a women's health division within the National Institutes of Health and a White House Women's Health Task Force. First lady Melania Trump joined him at a Rose Garden signing ceremony and added her signature to the order, though the article says it has no legal weight.
Trump credited the first lady with the idea for the NIH division. He said Americans would soon hear about the work being done for women's health but gave no specifics, and it is not yet clear how much funding will go toward the order's goals.
Five objectives outlined
Melania Trump said the order will pursue five objectives: directing research funding to cures that disproportionately affect women, using artificial intelligence to speed medical discoveries, accelerating new therapeutics, delivering breakthroughs at an affordable price, and making conversations about women's health less taboo.
She called it "a transformative moment for women in America" and said her generation will fight to discover cures so women can live in health.
This is a transformative moment for women in America.
— Melania Trump
Funding still undetermined
On CBS Mornings, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said the funding amount is still to be determined. He said the first lady wants to focus on neglected topics such as endometriosis and menopause, and that some new money will very likely be devoted to the effort.
Alicia Jackson, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, said her agency will make several announcements this year, including $100 million and $200 million toward efforts impacting women. The announcement follows chief of staff Susie Wiles' battle with breast cancer; Trump praised her at the event, and White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said the task force will work to close research gaps and strengthen care for women across all stages of life.
