Over One Million Men Excluded From NIH Research

These are the latest statistics on sex-specific participation in NIH extramural research studies for 1999:

Males: 2.8 million persons, which represents 37.7% of the total Females: 4.6 million persons, which is 61.6% of the total Sex Unknown: 0.6%

If men and women were included in NIH studies in equal numbers, 3.7 million males would be participating in NIH research. Subtracting 2.8 million from 3.7 million reveals that 1.1 million men and boys were excluded from NIH research studies in 1999.

But both sexes are supposed to be included in NIH research in approximately equal numbers, according to the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 (PL 103-43).

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DHHS Men's Health Programs Lag by 5:1 Margin

The budget allocation of the DHHS men's health programs is $963.6 million. In comparison, the DHHS spends approximately $5 billion on women's health research and education.

Despite the fact that the health of men is worse than the health of women on virtually every indicator, men's health programs lag by a 5:1 margin in terms of budget allocations within the Department of Health and Human Services.

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DHHS Has 5 Offices of Women's Health, and NO Office of Men's Health

The Department of Health and Human Services currently sponsors Offices of Women's Health in the following 5 agencies:

1. Office of Public Health and Science, Washington, DC

2. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

3. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

5. Health Services and Resources Administration, Maternal and Child Health Branch, Rockville, MD

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Centers for Excellence Discriminate of the Basis of Sex

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) sponsors 13 Centers of Excellence in Women's Health in academic health centers across the United States. The Centers of Excellence do not offer healthcare services to men.

The DHHS Centers of Excellence are located at the following medical centers:

1. Boston University Medical Center, Boston

2. Harvard Medical School, Boston

3. Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis

4. Magee-Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh

5. Drexel University, Philadelphia

6. Tulane Xavier Universities of Louisiana, New Orleans

7. University of California, Los Angeles

8. University of California, San Francisco

9. University of Illinois at Chicago

10. University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor

11. University of Puerto Rico, San Juan

12. University of Washington, Seattle

13. University of Wisconsin, Madison

Providing preferential healthcare services on the basis of sex is a form of discrimination. The DHHS Centers for Excellence in Women's Health are the modern day equivalent of drinking fountains that say, "Whites Only" and "Negroes Only."

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The DHHS still has no Office of Men's Health. The Men's Health Act has yet to pass in Congress.

Call your Representative or Senator at their local office (listed in the phone book), or call their Washington, DC office at 202-225-3121.

Ask them what they are going to do about this inequity during the upcoming session of Congress. Be polite, but don't settle for a wishy-washy answer. Tell them your vote on November 5 depends on their response.

Because persons' lives should not count for less because they happen to be male.

-Carey Roberts