CDRH Health of Women Program
Read our CDRH Health of Women Strategic Plan
The FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) received public feedback on CDRH's Health of Women Program's new proposed Strategic Plan through a public docket in the Federal Register: FDA-2019-N-3804 that closed on December 23, 2019. The Strategic Plan outlines three CDRH Health of Women Program priorities that we are proposing.
Your input will help shape how CDRH implements the program.
On This Page:
- What is CDRH's Health of Women Program?
- What are the goals of CDRH's Health of Women Program?
- Health of Women News and Updates
- Contact Us
- Read More Health Information for Women
What is CDRH's Health of Women Program?
CDRH has been working towards a better understanding of how medical devices perform in women and exploring unique issues in the regulation of medical devices related to the health of women.
The CDRH Health of Women Program recognizes the importance of addressing sex- and gender-specific issues in medical technology design, development, clinical trial design, and other medical device-related matters. Our program, formalized in 2016, extends beyond reproductive and gynecologic health. Our approach is comprehensive – it considers a woman's entire body.
What makes CDRH's Health of Women Program unique is that we envision a groundbreaking, modern program to explore the unique issues related to the performance of medical devices across a woman's lifetime. Health of Women encompasses health conditions that are specific to women, as well as conditions that are more common or more serious in women, have distinct causes or manifestations in women, have different outcomes or treatment options in women, or have higher morbidity or mortality in women.
CDRH's Health of Women Program helps support the FDA's Office of Women's Health through the foundational principle that sex should be factored into research design, analysis, reporting and education.
Mission
The mission of the CDRH Health of Women Program is to protect and promote the health of all women.
Vision
Our vision is that customers, including patients, caregivers and providers, have timely access to high quality, safe and effective medical devices that perform optimally in women, as well as access to relevant and understandable sex- and gender-specific information about medical devices that can be used to make informed health care decisions.
What are the goals of CDRH's Health of Women Program?
Providing women with access to the safest possible medical devices on the market to meet their health care needs is a top priority for CDRH.
The CDRH Health of Women Program will explore unique issues related to the performance of medical devices in women, improve analysis and communication of sex- and gender-specific data to better assure the safe and effective use of medical devices, and develop and implement health science programs, strategies and initiatives focused on women's health issues across CDRH. In these ways, we will continue to work to assure that medical devices are innovated to perform safely, effectively, and optimally in all women.
Health of Women News and Updates
Contact Us
- Send your questions about CDRH's Health of Women Program to [email protected]
- Follow us on Twitter: @FDADeviceInfo #HealthofWomen
Read More Health Information for Women
- Read about other women's health information
- Read the latest safety news about medical devices
- Read information about regulated medical devices
- Learn about women's health research opportunities