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Mission, history, and goals

• Mission
• History
• Goals

Mission

The Office on Women's Health's (OWH) mission is to provide leadership to promote health equity for women and girls through sex/gender-specific approaches. OWH achieves its mission and vision by developing innovative programs, educating health professionals, and motivating behavior change in consumers through the dissemination of health information.

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History

OWH in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was established in 1991 to improve the health of American women by advancing and coordinating a comprehensive women's health agenda throughout HHS to address health care prevention and service delivery, research, public and health care professional education, and career advancement for women in the health professions and in scientific careers. OWH also works with numerous government agencies, non-profit organizations, consumer groups, and associations of health care professionals. During the early 1990's, OWH focused on developing women's health as a specialized issue for government action and attention. With women's health now firmly rooted in the national health landscape, OWH is focusing on women's health priorities to meet the sweeping demographic trends of the next century and to focus on the millions of underserved women in America.

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Goals

1. To develop and impact national health policy as it relates to women and girls
2. To develop, adapt, implement, evaluate, and replicate model programs on women’s and girls’ health
3. To educate, influence, and collaborate with health and human services organizations, health care professionals, and the public
4. To increase OWH’s organizational efficiency and performance

Content last updated October 27, 2010.

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