Trump orders new women’s health division at NIH without specifying research funding

Under the order signed on 19 October, a White House Women’s Health Task Force is established immediately. A new Women’s Health Division at the National Institutes of Health is not yet in place: the health secretary, acting through the NIH director, must establish it within an appropriate institute or centre within 90 days. [2]

The task force, co-chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, is charged with coordinating federal work on research, prevention and care. The NIH division is to study poorly understood conditions, support replication studies, increase the inclusion of women and girls in clinical trials, and help bring research findings into medical practice. [2] [5]

Melania Trump set out five priorities in remarks published by the White House, including research into conditions affecting women, faster development of treatments and more affordable medical breakthroughs. Those are aims, not measures already delivered. The order calls for advanced research technologies and better access to care, but sets no mechanism for making treatments cheaper. [1] [2]

The division will work alongside NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health, which has existed since 1990. Trump’s order also revokes a 2024 order issued by Joe Biden and a 2023 memorandum on women’s health research. The earlier order, too, called for research advances to be translated into better health outcomes, although the new order sets out a different organisational structure. [2] [3] [4]

The health department must cover the task force’s administrative costs, but the order specifies no new research funding amount and makes implementation subject to available appropriations. Whether the new division receives additional resources — and whether the initiative ultimately improves treatment or access to care — remains to be seen.