WHEREAS, state government can increase its support for women's health and can make a significant difference in improving the status of women's health; and

WHEREAS, women are different, metabolically, hormonally, and physiologically from men and have different patterns of health and disease, and some diseases are more common in women than in men; and

WHEREAS, women are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases -- more than one in five women have some form of cardiovascular disease and one in two women will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in her lifetime; and

WHEREAS, women are three times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis and two to three times more likely to suffer from depression; and

WHEREAS, women are less often referred for diagnostic tests and less often treated for heart disease as compared to men; and

WHEREAS, women, if they are smokers, are 20 to 70 per cent more likely to develop lung cancer and ten times more likely than men to contract HIV during unprotected sex; and

WHEREAS, women outnumber men three-to-one in long-term care facilities; and

WHEREAS, on the average, women in Hawaii live longer than in any other state; and

WHEREAS, women are much more likely to provide health care to family members and make health care decisions and spend two of every three health care dollars; and

WHEREAS, there is abundant evidence that women are under-treated compared to men; and

WHEREAS, there is abundant evidence that women are under-represented in women's health studies; and

WHEREAS, although there has been some national attention given to women's health care issues and some legislative activity by Congress on access issues, there remains little change in vitally important preventive care and treatment issues; and

WHEREAS, in a recent survey of voters, almost 80 per cent of women and 60 per cent of men favored a women's health platform that supports relevant care, research, and education for women; and

WHEREAS, women have the right to access quality treatment and the latest technologies and appropriate diagnostic tests; and

WHEREAS, since 1994, the State Commission on the Status of Women has been the lead state agency coordinating Women's Health Month, an award-winning public-private partnership and collaboration to specifically maximize public awareness of women's health issues, empower women to be their own health advocates, reduce health care disparities, and promote the physical and emotional well-being of women in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that this body expresses its support for a women's health platform that recognizes serious inequities in the health prevention and treatment of women, and calls for the elimination of these inequities to improve the health status of women in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that every state agency, state-chartered institution of higher education, and recipient of state grants or funding that provides health prevention and treatment services is requested to take appropriate action to achieve improved and equal access for women to quality health care, including:

1. Providing women equal access to quality health care, including state-of-the-art medical advances and technology;
2. Increasing the number of women covered by comprehensive health care insurance, including primary and preventive health care for all women;
3. Preventing serious health problems by timely diagnosis and treatment programs;
4. Promoting strategies to increase patient access to recommended diagnostic and screening tests, preventive health regimens, and recommended treatments;
5. Encouraging unimpeded access to women's specialty health providers;
6. Creating and promoting public/private partnerships to establish programs designed to improve the scope and quality of women's health care;
7. Improving communications between providers and patients;
8. Continuing to expand participation of women in clinical trials;
9. Increasing government and private research on women's health issues and the differences between men and women and how they impact quality health care;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Commission on the Status of Women's annual Women's Health Month program held throughout the month of September be utilized in partnership and collaboration by community and state organizations and individuals to begin to address a women's health platform that recognizes serious inequities in the health prevention and treatment of women, and work together to eliminate the inequities and improve the health status of women in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to:

1. The Governor;
2. The President and the Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii, and the Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine;
3. The Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, who is requested to transmit copies of this Resolution to the directors of all health-related boards and commissions administratively placed within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Insurance Commissioner;
4. The Director of Health, who is requested to transmit copies of this Resolution to all appropriate agencies within or administratively attached to the Department of Health, including the Deputy Director of the Health Resources Administration; the Administrator of the State Health Planning and Development Agency; the Director of the Executive Office on Aging; the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation; the Chief of the Office of Health Care Assurance; and the Chief of the Office of Health Status Monitoring;

Report Title:

Women's Health; Prevention and Treatment; Eliminate Inequities