Monday 3 March 2025
Ministers for Health launch Women’s Health Week 2025
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 today 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.
“We have come a long way since the recommendation from the Scoping Inquiry into the Cervical Check Screening Programme which stated that women’s health issues be given more consistent, expert and committed attention. However, there is still an impact today from the historic neglect of female physiology through generations of research into medicines and treatment, and we continue to endure poorer health outcomes across a range of conditions.
“We are working to address this and have made considerable progress to date. I will continue to listen to women and support research that helps us to fully understand and address the gaps in services so that we can reach a true era of equality.
“Throughout this week we will showcase some of the new health initiatives that will make a measurable impact to women’s lives by focussing on prevention, early intervention and targeted treatment.”
Women in Ireland are living longer, and better, than ever before. The percentage of women rating their health as good or very good is the highest in the EU. This reflects improvement in the provision of effective services across the life cycle, including the Free Contraception Scheme for women aged from 17 to 35 years inclusive; the establishment of six Specialist Menopause Clinics, five Endometriosis Hubs and development of two supra-regional Specialist Centres for the care and the treatment of complex endometriosis; and the commencement of an action plan to eliminate cervical cancer in Ireland by 2040.
Gynaecology and maternity services have also been developed significantly including the development of additional ‘See-and-Treat’ Ambulatory Gynaecology Clinics, community-based Postnatal Hubs, and Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services.
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.
Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler said:
“Mental health services for men and women should be equal, but they cannot be the same, as gender impacts on a person’s mental health needs and they services they require.
“This is acknowledged in the progress in women’s health services over the last few years. Last week I announced the locations for two additional eating disorder teams, with 14 of the planned 16 teams now established.
“We’re also developing enhanced perinatal mental health care and progressing the establishment of the first mother and baby inpatient mental health unit.
“These steps help bring us closer to our vision of a mental health service that meets the needs of all patients throughout all stages of life.”
Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Jennifer Murnane O’Connor said:
“The development and expansion of women’s health services is a critical part of our efforts to improve overall population health. We are already making good strides in supporting menstrual health through initiatives such as free contraception, setting up specialist endometriosis teams and opening more ambulatory gynaecology clinics.
“We are also removing financial barriers, including through period dignity programmes that provide period products free of charge in many public buildings, through many Local Authorities and Family Resource Centres, and through our community partners.
“I’m delighted that Healthy Ireland funding this year will reinforce the ongoing efforts to boost Ireland’s breastfeeding rates, which will lead to long-term health benefits for women and their children.”
Minister for Older People Kieran O’Donnell said:
“I’m very pleased that the priorities for women’s health service development are following a life cycle approach, and this includes women in later life. Funding this year is focussed on a number of prevention and early intervention initiatives for cardiovascular and bone health, aimed at women in midlife and older.
“These initiatives are a recognition of the need for gender-specific healthcare helping women to live longer and healthier lives.
“It is vital that we support women so that they can enjoy improved quality of life and health in their later years.”
Chief Nursing Officer, 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.
Highlights for 2025 will include:
- Development of eight additional Postnatal Hubs to bring the total to 13 and 4 additional same-day ‘See-and-Treat’ Gynaecology Clinics in development to bring the network to 21.
- A particular focus on women and their cardiovascular health.
- A number of projects focusing on improving health outcomes for more vulnerable and marginalised groups of women e.g. Traveller women, women in prison and female migrants.
- Ireland’s first ever public Assisted Human Reproduction Treatment Centre to commence service in late 2025 and be fully operational in 2026.