Women's Health in Pharmacy

Why Women's Health is Important
Women’s health is a broad area in pharmacy. According to America's Health ranking, there were 28.5% unintended pregnancies in the U.S in 2022. About 95% of unintended pregnancies occurred because of not using contraception or incorrect use of contraception (1).

What is a Pharmacist's Role in Women’s Health
It is important to have pharmacists to help women because they are often the first point of contact for women seeking healthcare advice. Pharmacists are able to tell them how to use contraception correctly and what other options, besides traditional condoms, they have to protect themselves from getting pregnant. With help from pharmacists, women can have their own personalized care based on their preferences. Besides physical protection, medications such as birth control pills and Plan B are also available. However, these medications require pharmacy counseling to ensure that women fully understand how they work. There are often myths about birth control medications: “Birth control will make me gain weight”, “birth control will cause cancer”, “plan B is an abortion pill”, “birth control will affect my ability to have children in the future”.... (2). These myths have prevented some women from trying these medications and caused them to lose protections they could have. Pharmacists are important to clarify and guide women to take birth control medications correctly. Besides birth control, pharmacists are also important in supporting and helping patients to treat conditions that are specific to women, such as menstrual cramps, urinary tract infections, and pregnancy related issues. There are certain medications prohibited from use during breastfeeding as well that pharmacists can advise on.

Future Opportunities
Nowadays, hospitals have opened more specific departments in women's health areas such as women’s nutrition, hair loss, and genital health. Pharmacy is keeping up with this, as well. In the future, pharmacists may be able to focus more on these specialties and provide more personalized care for women. This will also allow women to have greater access to  health care services.
 
Written by: Crystal Wang

 References:

1. https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/health-of-women-and-children/measure/unintended_pregnancy/state/U.S
2. https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/bc4teens/resources/birth-control-myth
   

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