The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD; Minister for Mental, Health Mary Butler TD; Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor TD and Minister for Older People and Housing, Kieran O’Donnell TD have launched Women’s Health Week 2025.
This week marks three years since the launch of the first Women’s Health Action Plan, which has been underpinned by €180 million of additional funding to improve and expand women’s health services. The Ministers have today affirmed their commitment to driving continued progress across all aspects of healthcare to ensure an equitable service for all.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said:
“Women’s health, and the health and wellbeing of all people in Ireland, is my priority every week. As we launch Women’s Health Week it is an opportunity to highlight the importance of gendered healthcare across all life stages. I’m struck by a fundamental paradox: the very need for a week of recognition highlights the current inequalities within healthcare for women. One of my priorities is to get to a place where everyone, regardless of their gender, has access to timely, quality, appropriate healthcare, and where Women’s Health Week becomes obsolete. “Ireland is not an outlier here. Women all over the world continue to experience inequality across every facet of life, an issue I’ll be highlighting when I address the UN Commission on the Status of Women next week.
The Department of Health continues to work on expanding and developing the work to date to reduce inequalities and is focused on meeting the health needs of women across all life stages. This work will include delivery of the commitments in the new ‘Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future’, and continued prioritisation of the aims outlined in the ‘Women’s Health Action Plan 2024 – 2025 Phase 2: An Evolution in Women’s Health’.
Priority areas identified for 2025 include expansion of gendered mental health services, a focus on protecting women’s heart and bone health in mid and later life, and initiatives to support everyday health and wellbeing including period dignity programmes and increased breastfeeding supports. This is in addition to ongoing work to expand the network of see-and-treat gynaecology clinics and implementation of the National Maternity Strategy.
Department of Health Women’s Health Champion and Co-Chair of the Women’s Health Taskforce Rachel Kenna, said: “Women’s Health Week is about allowing us to reflect and celebrate progress while at the same time highlighting areas needing further growth and development. There is a lot of progress to celebrate, and I would like to thank the Women’s Health Taskforce for their ongoing dedication to improving women’s health outcomes.
The Women’s Health Action Plan 2024-2025 is available here.
Progress report of the first Action Plan 2022 -2023 is available here
Women’s Health Outcomes Report is available here