Skip to main content

Military Health System

New MHS Podcast Explores Women’s Health in the Military

Image of KeyserTL 465 x 220 px. KeyserTL 465 x 220 px

Recommended Content:

Health Readiness & Combat Support | Women's Health

Over the past 25 years, the U.S. military has incorporated servicewomen into every occupational specialty, where they have demonstrably improved mission capability and success.

However, the availability and scope of women's health services within the Military Health System continues to vary significantly, with some MHS providers unfamiliar with delivering women's health care, particularly to servicewomen in the field. Helping overcome the specific health care obstacles servicewomen encounter is crucial to ensuring the readiness, health, and well-being of the military. This is one of the reasons why the MHS is launching its new podcast series, Wise Health for Women Warriors.

Wise Health for Women Warriors pulls experts from across the MHS's Women and Infant Clinical Community to answer the most frequently asked questions that military providers have about women's health. The podcast seeks to educate and empower MHS primary care providers to improve health care delivery and outcomes for servicewomen, before, during, and after deployment and throughout their military careers.

The Department of Defense has made great strides over the past 10 years regarding women's health – servicewomen now get 12 weeks of maternity leave instead of six weeks. And female service members are now protected from deployment for 12 months after childbirth. The podcast seeks to build on this progress by providing information and insight about overcoming health care challenges that servicewomen face.

Men don't have to think about changing a tampon or pad down range; or handling urinary urgency, infections, or incontinence when the nearest bathroom is half a mile away. After childbirth, men aren't required to return to work while still recovering and managing breastfeeding – and then go pass a fitness test. Men do not experience these demands on their body or women's age limitations on fertility.

I have experienced these challenges myself, both as a mother and a physician. In 2012, I had only six weeks of maternity leave and had to deploy six months postpartum. I had to pump and dump my breast milk all over Kuwait and Afghanistan while making my way through transient tents to get to Jalalabad so I could provide breast milk for my baby for at least six months. Professionally, I have met many servicewomen who delay starting a family to focus on their careers – a common and often difficult choice that makes infertility a real, widespread challenge.

Wise Health for Women Warriors offers an informed dialogue on real-world health care challenges servicewomen encounter and clinically proven ways to help address them. Through this podcast, my guests and I – and the Military Health System – are striving to make things better for the women coming after us.

Empowering Servicewomen

Servicewomen represent a growing and increasingly important subgroup of MHS health care recipients. According to the Defense Health Board's November 2020 report Active Duty Women's Health Care Services, women account for 17% – more than one in six – of active-duty personnel, totaling approximately 225,000 women across all military branches. More than four in 10 MHS active duty and beneficiaries are women, and women have emerged as the fastest-growing active-duty population.

The DHB report also found that servicewomen often lack access to – and even awareness of – products and services for self-diagnosis and self-care of treatable and preventable women's health issues, particularly in operational environments.

In response, the DHB recommended empowering servicewomen to perform self-care as equal partners in their care, incorporating gender-sensitive customization where appropriate. The report endorsed using digital health technology as a scalable, low-cost way to deliver health information and services to women in the military at the point of need, especially in remote and resource-constrained environments.

In addition to this podcast, the MHS offers a breadth of evidence-based digital health technology resources for women’s health. One of these is Decide + Be Ready, a mobile health app specifically designed to support deployed servicewomen in making educated decisions on contraceptives, reproductive health, and family planning.

Investment in the Future

It is challenging for women sometimes to stay in the military as they build a family and build a career. As servicewomen increase their prevalence and prominence in the U.S. military, the MHS must continue to meet them where they are, understand their needs and situations from their perspective, and help them best address those needs with tools that work best for them.

This approach to improving women’s health care is an important investment in the future. How the MHS addresses women's health issues directly impacts the number of women in the military.

The more we can make life better for servicewomen by proactively focusing on their specific health needs, the more we remove the question of whether women will have the medical resources and provider support they need to accomplish their mission, the more women will choose to join and stay

You also may be interested in...

Benefits & Side Effects of Hormonal Birth Control

Video
3/13/2023
Benefits & Side Effects of Hormonal Birth Control

Capt. Kelly Elmore, Ob/Gyn and Chief of Staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, explains some benefits and side effects of hormonal birth control. Walk-in contraceptive services are now available at military hospitals and clinics. No referral or appointment is required. Learn more and find clinic locations here: https://www.tricare.mil/walkincontraceptiveservices

Recommended Content:

Women's Health

What is Contraception?

Video
3/13/2023
What is Contraception?

Capt. Kelly Elmore, Ob/Gyn and Chief of Staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, explains what is contraception. Walk-in contraceptive services are now available at military hospitals and clinics. No referral or appointment is required. Learn more and find clinic locations here: https://www.tricare.mil/walkincontraceptiveservices

Recommended Content:

Women's Health

What is Hormonal Birth Control?

Video
3/13/2023
What is Hormonal Birth Control?

Capt. Kelly Elmore, OB/GYN and Chief of Staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, explains hormonal birth control. Walk-in contraceptive services are now available at military hospitals and clinics. No referral or appointment is required. Learn more and find clinic locations here: https://www.tricare.mil/walkincontraceptiveservices

Recommended Content:

Women's Health

Benefits of Hormonal Birth Control

Video
3/13/2023
Benefits of Hormonal Birth Control

Capt. Kelly Elmore, OB/GYN and Chief of Staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, explains some benefits hormonal birth control. Walk-in contraceptive services are now available at military hospitals and clinics. No referral or appointment is required. Learn more and find clinic locations here: https://www.tricare.mil/walkincontraceptiveservices

Recommended Content:

Women's Health

Introducing Contraceptive Care Clinics

Video
11/23/2022
Introducing Contraceptive Care Clinics

Walk-in contraceptive services are now available at military hospitals and clinics. No referral or appointment is required. Check with your local military hospital or clinic to see if walk-in appointments are available. Learn more at health.mil/womenshealth.

Recommended Content:

Walk-In Contraceptive Services Toolkit | Women's Health | Contraceptive Care | Contraceptive Care Toolkit | Reproductive Health Toolkit

MHS Minute | October 2022

Video
11/9/2022
MHS Minute

This MHS Minute focuses on the contraceptive care services available to service members and beneficiaries. Learn more by visiting: https://tricare.mil/birthcontrol and https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Total-Force-Fitness/Preventive-Health/Womens-Health/Contraceptive-Care-QnA Access communications products at https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/MHS-Toolkits/Contraceptive-Care-Toolkit

Recommended Content:

Contraceptive Care Toolkit | Women's Health

Contraceptive Care

Video
10/4/2022
Infographic for TRICARE Contraceptive Care

Did you know that TRICARE waived copayments and cost-shares for medical contraceptive care? Learn more at www.tricare.mil/birthcontrol.

Recommended Content:

Women's Health | Contraceptive Care Toolkit

July MHS Minute

Video
8/9/2022
Infographic for July MHS Minute

The July MHS Minute highlights a dedicated webpage for women's health to educate women and their partners on the health care services and resources available to them. Visit https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Total-Force-Fitness/Preventive-Health/Womens-Health to learn more. Additionally, learn more about the new national suicide and crisis lifeline, 988.

Recommended Content:

Women's Health | Suicide Prevention | Psychological Fitness

Deployment Readiness Education for Servicewomen App

Video
7/12/2022
Deployment Readiness Education for Servicewomen App

This video provides a brief overview of the Deployment Readiness Education for Servicewomen App.

Recommended Content:

Women's Health

The Dangers of Dietary Supplements

Video
7/11/2022
Military personnel lifting weights

Did you know that 75% of service members use at least 1 dietary supplement? Experts from the Uniformed Services University discuss the risks and safety concerns of dietary supplements. Learn more about dietary supplements at www.OPSS.org and The Consortium of Health & Military Performance (CHAMP).

Recommended Content:

Nutritional Fitness | Performance Nutrition: Fuel Your Body and Mind | Health Readiness & Combat Support

What is Performance Nutrition

Video
7/11/2022
Dr, Jonathan Scott

Learn more about Performance Nutrition and healthy eating habits at the Consortium for Health & Military Performance. https://champ.usuhs.edu/. For more information about the Dietician Approved Fueling stations at your local commissary, go to https://www.commissaries.com/fueling_stations

Recommended Content:

Performance Nutrition: Fuel Your Body and Mind | Health Readiness & Combat Support | Nutritional Fitness

Performance Nutrition: The Best Ways to Eat

Video
7/11/2022
Infographic for Performance Nutrition

USU professor and nutrition specialist, Jonathan Scott PhD, gives advice on eating healthy. Learn more about the Dietician Approved Fueling stations at your local commissary here: https://www.commissaries.com/fueling_stations

Recommended Content:

Health Readiness & Combat Support | Performance Nutrition: Fuel Your Body and Mind | Nutritional Fitness

Cancer Moonshot - A U.S. Coast Guard spouse shares her story

Video
5/11/2022
A U.S. Coast Guard spouse with ovarian and fallopian cancer shares her story

A U.S. Coast Guard spouse with ovarian and fallopian cancer shares her story

Recommended Content:

Women's Health | Cancers of the Female Reproductive System | Ovarian Cancer | Cancer Moonshot

MHS Minute May 2021

Video
5/28/2021
Image of MHS Minute Carousel

In this month's MHS Minute, the DHA's commitment to transforming military health continues. The DHA officially established the Tidewater market in SE Virginia, serving over 200,000 patients. The MHS is standing up 19 markets like Tidewater to allow healthcare providers to better meet the needs of their patients by improving coordination between facilities in the area.

Recommended Content:

Military Health System Transformation | MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record | Health Readiness & Combat Support | MHS GENESIS

Moments in Military Medicine: Blood Donations on the Battlefield

Video
2/4/2020
Moments in Military History

Since January was National Blood Donor Month, learn more about the history of blood donations on the battlefield and the incredible work of the Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP).

Recommended Content:

Health Readiness & Combat Support | Armed Services Blood Program | Our History | National Museum of Health and Medicine
<< < 1 2 > >> 
Showing results 1 - 15 Page 1 of 2
Refine your search
Last Updated: August 03, 2022
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery