In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it was terminating contracts with all four regional centers associated with the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a more than three-decades-long study tracking valuable data about women’s health. Less than one week after the announcement, the department reversed its decision and will restore funding associated with the WHI’s research efforts, according to a report from NPR.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the WHI conducts research on cardiovascular disease, cancers, and osteoporotic fractures in women. Originally launched in 1992, the project focuses on strategies to prevent the major causes of death, disability, and frailty in older women, as well as investigation into many more questions on women’s health and aging. Since its inception, the WHI has collected data on more than 160,000 women. Currently, the project’s four regional centers in California, New York, Ohio, and North Carolina are following more than 40,000 participants.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration told all federal health agencies to cut their spending on contracts by at least 35 percent. The call to reverse the HHS’s recent defunding decision came after the department determined NIH had already exceed its internal targets for contract reductions.
“These studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women’s health,” said a statement from Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson. He added, “NIH remains deeply committed to advancing public health through rigorous gold standard research and we are taking immediate steps to ensure the continuity of these studies.”