The Women's Health Council is Charged With:

1. Creating a women’s health referral service and a clearinghouse for education and information on women’s health.
2. Advising the Governor’s Office via reports on women’s health policy, including recommended performance measures and outcomes specific to women’s health.

• Sex and gender differences impact medical practices. Just as we view ethnic differences as factors in the accessibility to and quality of care, sex and gender differences also require special attention. For example, because clinical trials did not include women until the late 1980’s and 1990’s, we have very little research based evidence specific to women. One area where this is coming to light is heart disease - we now know that heart disease looks different in women than in men, and we can now diagnose it accurately.
• Services and care for women are currently fragmented -different services exist for behavioral, reproductive, all other healthcare. For this reason, a clearinghouse and referral service is needed.
• Socioeconomic status significantly influences how women use the health care system and, consequently, their overall health. Women's income levels, educational attainment, and employment status predict their ability to access important health care resources including health insurance, medical services, and preventive care. Therefore, in order to improve women’s health, we must improve in the other areas mentioned.
• Women do not know that they react differently to some medications, are more vulnerable to some diseases, and may have different symptoms.