Budget of HHS Office on Women’s Health, 1998-2025

Graph of the Week

This week’s graph shows the annual budget (1998-2025) of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office on Women’s Health. Only data for the HHS Office on Women’s Health are shown because no HHS Office on Men’s Health has ever been established.

Key Points

• Annual budgets for the Office on Women’s Health were about $10-15 million in the late 1990s and early 2002.

• For most the Office’s history, however, annual budgets averaged around $30 million.

• In recent years, the budget has increased to over $40 million per year.

• Since 1998, the HHS Office on Women’s Health has had a total budget of approximately $800 million – most of which will have been invested into women’s health research and initiatives.

Source: Data were extracted from “Budget in Brief” reports published by the Department of Health and Human Services on its website. As of this writing, these reports are indexed here.

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Bonus Commentary

The Office on Women’s Health was founded in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1991. To my knowledge, no one has previously attempted to identify and reveal the budget of this office over its history.

The HHS Office on Women’s Health is one several women’s health offices in the U.S. government. No equivalent offices for men’s health exist in these agencies, yet U.S. males have significantly shorter life expectancies than U.S. females.

Narratives about women’s health being “underfunded,” “understudied,” and in a state of “crisis” have been part of academic and public health rhetoric for many years. These claims continue to be pushed by governments, professional societies, and journalists. The above graph is one piece of evidence that debunks the claim that women’s health is underfunded. Each year, the HHS Office on Women’s Health receives about $30 million from taxpayers to promote and study women’s health. Meanwhile, no Office on Men’s Health exists within HHS.

Other evidence that refutes the claims that women’s health is underfunded and understudied can be found below at Related Content at The Nuzzo Letter.

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Related Content at The Nuzzo Letter

U.S. Men’s and Women’s Health Offices

NIH Funding of Men's and Women's Health

Prostate and Breast Cancer Funding - NIH Budget

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