Women: Do you think the gender gap in money devoted to medical research is a problem?

For many years, research for women's health issues has been under-funded. Do you think it's a problem and that research should be roughly equal?

Women: Do you think the gender gap in money devoted to medical research is a problem?
Funding by the government should be based upon the incidence, prevalence, and severity of the disease. However, we can not control what private industry does with their funds. Most studies have been done with a typical male as the research subject. I am glad that is changing.
Reply:Women's health research is certainly important but it is missing the point saying that the amount of funding should be equalised. It doesn't work that way. We have 2 sexes not 2 species.





It would be best that sex differences in health were recognised and given more priority in research. But like the professor said, the amount of funding should be weighted to the disease or condition by incidence and severity.
Reply:In fact, if any group is underfunded with research and awareness its men's health issues! We hear tons about breast cancer and ovarian cancer, but until the prostate cancer awareness, we heard little to none about cancers among men.





As for the notion of equality of funding. Frankly, money needs to go where it is most needed - and determined by the incidences and diagnoses. Healthcare should have no gender, and therefore, no discrimination.
Reply:What would make sense, instead of focusing on how much is spent on things that disproportionately effect arbitrary sub-groups of people, is to effectively spend money based on relevant aspects:





How deadly or harmful to quality of life a condition is;


how amenable it is to treatment (that is, how likely it is to become amendable to treatment) -- stuff like that.





When people say "spend more on men!" or "spend more on women!" they are just WRONG.
Reply:In what ways has it been underfunded? I thought the general consesnus was that women's health issues were overfunded compared to some men's issues? I do believe the amount of government contributions should roughly match the risks to the entire population, but what private companies do is up to them - I'm not sure the government could force them :-)
Reply:Well i do know why Breast Cancer gets 6 times the funding that Prostate Cancer does even when they have roughly the same kill and diagnosis rate.





And its not discrimination.





Breast Cancer has WAYY WAYYYY WAYY better representation and media air time than prostate cancer, and as such, private companies are more likely to donate to breast cancer.