Public Health Magazine: Winter 1995, Vol.5, No.1
Faculty Profiles
Joan M. Leiman

Senior lecturer directs Commission on Women's Health

At the end of the 20th Century, American women are definitely living longer, but this increased longevity is not always quality time. Joan M. Leiman, Ph.D., executive deputy vice president for the Health Sciences and a CSPH senior lecturer in health policy and management, thinks there is quite a bit of bad news underlying the good news for women's health. As executive director of the Commonwealth Fund's Commission on Women's Health, she is trying to focus attention on those underlying problems. According to Leiman, the fact that U.S. women are living longer overshadows the reality that many suffer from chronic diseases that go untreated and might even have been prevented.

The commission was founded two years ago by the Commonwealth Fund to develop policy and draw attention to these women's health issues. The commission is chaired by Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History and former president of Barnard College. Its 15 members include Judy Woodruff of CNN, Robert E. McAfee, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, and other leaders from the health care industry, the media, private foundations and academia.

According to Leiman, the commission's mission is fourfold: increase awareness of women's health issues, inform women and their physicians of measures for preventing serious illness and injury, identify research opportunities, and examine the public policies that can improve women's health and quality of life. To fulfill its mission, the commission works with the Commonwealth Fund to conduct health surveys and research studies, and then to publish findings and policy papers.

"What is needed to improve the health of American women," Leiman said, "is a greater awareness of the important role preventive health can play in avoiding illness and an understanding of the financial and non-financial barriers that frequently bar women from receiving important health care services."

The Commonwealth Fund sponsored the first-ever household survey of women's health entitled Health Care Reform: What Is at Stake for Women? Leiman noted survey findings that "a significant portion of women do not receive routine exams, like Pap smears, mammograms and timely prenatal care because they lack insurance and cannot afford to pay for the services" out of their own pockets. She also pointed out that "because women live longer and tend to be poorer than men, they are more likely to be enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid programs, which are increasingly vulnerable to cost reductions that may adversely affect care."

The survey also revealed that:

• Osteoporosis afflicts 25 million older women, yet 70 percent of women reported not being very familiar with the disease;
• Many women continue to smoke despite implications for lung cancer, heart disease, and many other leading killers;
• Every year, important examinations, like Pap smears and breast exams, are missed by approximately one out of three women.

In addition to the policy report on health reform, the commission will shortly issue papers on mental health issues for women, violence in women's lives, and prevention strategies. These reports are distributed to policy makers, Congressional committees, women's organizations, the media, and funding and research organizations.