Symptoms include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, vaginal irritation or pain, headaches, and low mood or anxiety. These symptoms normally last around five years, although 10% of women experience them for up to 12 years.
I couldn’t see a Disability-Adjusted Life Years rating for menopause. I’d imagine that it might have a similar impact to mild depression, which in 2004 was rated as 0.140.
Currently, about 200 million people are going through menopause, 80% of whom are experiencing symptoms. I’d expect this to increase to 300 million by 2050.
A leading menopause charity in the UK has an annual budget of less than £500k, despite the 4 million British women going through menopause, so I think menopause treatment in the UK could be improved with relatively little money.*
I’m not sure that would create very helpful spillovers to countries where Hormone Replacement Therapy isn’t cheaply accessible. On the other hand, online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is starting to be used to treat some symptoms, and that could probably be scaled up more easily.
*Improving diagnosis and doctor awareness of treatment options seems tractable, but there are some supply chain problems right now which seem less tractable.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49308083
I emailed four menopause researchers to get their views on the best way to help women suffering from menopause symptoms. Two have responded so far. Both suggested charities they are affiliated with.
The first suggested the North American Menopause Society. It seems quite reputable. It focuses on the education of women and health professionals in North America. I’m sure there’s a lot of work to be done there, but it seems pretty unlikely to do more good than healthcare in the developing world.
The second suggested the International Menopause Society. It’s been around for a few decades and has an annual budget of around £300k. They also focus on education of women and healthcare professionals, but on a global scale. They’re currently working to translate more educational materials into various languages. They also sponsor young doctors from the developing world to attend educational conferences, and they sponsor one young doctor to do research into menopause each year.
This second researcher also indicated that a lot of research into menopause treatment is already being funded, and treatment is widely available in countries with a decent healthcare system, so it would be better to direct my donation towards education or more basic research about how menopause affects the body (eg the link between menopause and obesity).
I really like the idea of working on a women’s issue in a global context. I think women’s health has historically been neglected, and IMS seems large enough to be reputable while being small enough that my money would matter to them. I also care a lot about justice and feminism.
Still, I get the feeling that sponsoring a training course for doctors and nurses to be translated into Arabic might not do as much good as buying bednets. It’s a really tricky decision! I’m going to think about it for a bit.
I’m feeling most positive about translating materials for healthcare professionals, so if I decide to move forward, my next step will probably be asking for metrics on their training course (how many healthcare professionals registered, how many completed it, etc). I welcome any thoughts on how I can compare IMS with the Against Malaria Foundation.
I really like the idea of working on a women’s issue in a global context.
Me too. I’m also wondering about the global burden of period pain, and the tractability of reducing it. Similar to menopause (and non-gender-specific issues such as ageing), one might expect this to be neglected because of a “it’s natural and not a disease, and so we can’t or shouldn’t anything about it” fallacy.
After getting more info, I decided it wasn’t so important and neglected as to be competitive with the Against Malaria Foundation. Thanks for following up!
Thanks, that’s good to hear enough people seem to be working on it :)
If you have some notes on it you can share, it would be nice if you could collect them and add them to a post together with these shortform posts so that it could be tagged and more discoverable 🙂 (no need to edit anything, and even this bottom line seems important)
What is the global burden of menopause?
Symptoms include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, vaginal irritation or pain, headaches, and low mood or anxiety. These symptoms normally last around five years, although 10% of women experience them for up to 12 years.
I couldn’t see a Disability-Adjusted Life Years rating for menopause. I’d imagine that it might have a similar impact to mild depression, which in 2004 was rated as 0.140.
Currently, about 200 million people are going through menopause, 80% of whom are experiencing symptoms. I’d expect this to increase to 300 million by 2050.
A leading menopause charity in the UK has an annual budget of less than £500k, despite the 4 million British women going through menopause, so I think menopause treatment in the UK could be improved with relatively little money.*
I’m not sure that would create very helpful spillovers to countries where Hormone Replacement Therapy isn’t cheaply accessible. On the other hand, online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is starting to be used to treat some symptoms, and that could probably be scaled up more easily.
*Improving diagnosis and doctor awareness of treatment options seems tractable, but there are some supply chain problems right now which seem less tractable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49308083
I emailed four menopause researchers to get their views on the best way to help women suffering from menopause symptoms. Two have responded so far. Both suggested charities they are affiliated with.
The first suggested the North American Menopause Society. It seems quite reputable. It focuses on the education of women and health professionals in North America. I’m sure there’s a lot of work to be done there, but it seems pretty unlikely to do more good than healthcare in the developing world.
The second suggested the International Menopause Society. It’s been around for a few decades and has an annual budget of around £300k. They also focus on education of women and healthcare professionals, but on a global scale. They’re currently working to translate more educational materials into various languages. They also sponsor young doctors from the developing world to attend educational conferences, and they sponsor one young doctor to do research into menopause each year.
This second researcher also indicated that a lot of research into menopause treatment is already being funded, and treatment is widely available in countries with a decent healthcare system, so it would be better to direct my donation towards education or more basic research about how menopause affects the body (eg the link between menopause and obesity).
I really like the idea of working on a women’s issue in a global context. I think women’s health has historically been neglected, and IMS seems large enough to be reputable while being small enough that my money would matter to them. I also care a lot about justice and feminism.
Still, I get the feeling that sponsoring a training course for doctors and nurses to be translated into Arabic might not do as much good as buying bednets. It’s a really tricky decision! I’m going to think about it for a bit.
I’m feeling most positive about translating materials for healthcare professionals, so if I decide to move forward, my next step will probably be asking for metrics on their training course (how many healthcare professionals registered, how many completed it, etc). I welcome any thoughts on how I can compare IMS with the Against Malaria Foundation.
Me too. I’m also wondering about the global burden of period pain, and the tractability of reducing it. Similar to menopause (and non-gender-specific issues such as ageing), one might expect this to be neglected because of a “it’s natural and not a disease, and so we can’t or shouldn’t anything about it” fallacy.
Do you have any updates here?
After getting more info, I decided it wasn’t so important and neglected as to be competitive with the Against Malaria Foundation. Thanks for following up!
Thanks, that’s good to hear enough people seem to be working on it :)
If you have some notes on it you can share, it would be nice if you could collect them and add them to a post together with these shortform posts so that it could be tagged and more discoverable 🙂 (no need to edit anything, and even this bottom line seems important)