I estimate that menopause in higher-income countries still isnât sufficiently neglected to be worth allocating EA funds to. (it could well be worth the time of an EA community member using non-EA government health funding, though: I feel this way about a lot of higher-income countries health system improvement work). In lower-income countries Iâd have to defer to GiveWell. Why donât you look through GiveWellâs evaluations and see if thereâs anything on it there?
In an EA community context, the average age of an EA is 28 so most community members havenât hit the age range to experience menopause in themselves, a friend, or a partner. EAs also disproportionately look after themselves and are likely to seek menopause treatment if available. There is definitely something to be said for covering/âraising awareness of menopause treatment for your workers if you are an EA org (again, I feel strongly that EA orgs need to do their bit to promote a healthy workplace environment, in a variety of areas). However, EA orgs are often very small, and Iâd worry about individual people feeling singled out by any such initiatives.
I wouldnât have written the post if the expected outcome of a woman going to her doctor with (peri)menopause syndroms is to get treatment. The experience of many women also in higher-income countries is more like this: Due to a lack of education, the woman doesnât link her individual symptomes to menopause. Therefore she goes to her standard doctor. Due to a lack of education, the standard doctor doesnât link the symptomes to menopause and sends the woman to a specialist. The specialist treats the symptome, but not the cause, or understands the link and there isnât necessarily a good therapy existing due to a lack of studies and medical development. The findings of a greek study point out the worldwide huge lacks in the healthcare system: âOverall, training on menopause management is profoundly inadequate even nowadays. Menopause management requires theoretical education and clinical experience for the optimal management of menopause-related issues. Although menopause education is included in some medical and specialty training curricula, physicians are not adequately trained to provide the standard of care to women transitioning to menopause.â Link Besides, only because EA women are younger nowadays doesnât mean they will stay young forever. Concerning Give WellâI didnât find anything about that topic there. But on an earlier research, I already wondered what about period poverty, as many girls miss classes or completely stop to attend school because they donât have any products to deal with their period and I couldnât find a single reviewed program about that topic. So perhaps womenâs health is a bit of a blind spot in general?
As I say, in higher-income countries itâs probably a great project for an EA community member to take on with non-EA government funding (which is far more freely available if you are sufficiently trained in public health).
For sanitary product handout in low-income countries, I note this study https://ââpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ââ36185073/ââ which puts a number at $2300/ââDALY for menstrual cups. Thatâs great (itâs about 10x the cost-effectiveness bar the government of a higher-income country might use for its citizens), but itâs nowhere close to the EA funding bar which is about $80/ââDALY at the moment I thinkâabout 50x as much.
EA money has a very high cost-effectiveness bar. Something not reaching it doesnât mean that thing is not a good thing, it just means that we havenât (yet) worked out how to get it cost-effective enough that we can save more lives by reallocting our grant pots towards it. If you can think of a way to deliver menopause education (or sanitary product handout) in a way thatâs many times more cost-effective than the standard method, it might be worth doing some additional investigation?
NOVAH (domenstic violence prevention), Lafiyah Nigeria (contraceptive access), and FEM (contraceptive awareness) are the women-specific EA charities I know. There are also very good arguments that the Against Malaria Foundation has substantial benefit to women, as every childâs life saved is a mother who does not have to grieve.
I estimate that menopause in higher-income countries still isnât sufficiently neglected to be worth allocating EA funds to. (it could well be worth the time of an EA community member using non-EA government health funding, though: I feel this way about a lot of higher-income countries health system improvement work). In lower-income countries Iâd have to defer to GiveWell. Why donât you look through GiveWellâs evaluations and see if thereâs anything on it there?
In an EA community context, the average age of an EA is 28 so most community members havenât hit the age range to experience menopause in themselves, a friend, or a partner. EAs also disproportionately look after themselves and are likely to seek menopause treatment if available. There is definitely something to be said for covering/âraising awareness of menopause treatment for your workers if you are an EA org (again, I feel strongly that EA orgs need to do their bit to promote a healthy workplace environment, in a variety of areas). However, EA orgs are often very small, and Iâd worry about individual people feeling singled out by any such initiatives.
I wouldnât have written the post if the expected outcome of a woman going to her doctor with (peri)menopause syndroms is to get treatment.
The experience of many women also in higher-income countries is more like this:
Due to a lack of education, the woman doesnât link her individual symptomes to menopause. Therefore she goes to her standard doctor.
Due to a lack of education, the standard doctor doesnât link the symptomes to menopause and sends the woman to a specialist.
The specialist treats the symptome, but not the cause, or understands the link and there isnât necessarily a good therapy existing due to a lack of studies and medical development.
The findings of a greek study point out the worldwide huge lacks in the healthcare system:
âOverall, training on menopause management is profoundly inadequate even nowadays. Menopause management requires theoretical education and clinical experience for the optimal management of menopause-related issues. Although menopause education is included in some medical and specialty training curricula, physicians are not adequately trained to provide the standard of care to women transitioning to menopause.â Link
Besides, only because EA women are younger nowadays doesnât mean they will stay young forever.
Concerning Give WellâI didnât find anything about that topic there. But on an earlier research, I already wondered what about period poverty, as many girls miss classes or completely stop to attend school because they donât have any products to deal with their period and I couldnât find a single reviewed program about that topic. So perhaps womenâs health is a bit of a blind spot in general?
As I say, in higher-income countries itâs probably a great project for an EA community member to take on with non-EA government funding (which is far more freely available if you are sufficiently trained in public health).
For sanitary product handout in low-income countries, I note this study https://ââpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ââ36185073/ââ which puts a number at $2300/ââDALY for menstrual cups. Thatâs great (itâs about 10x the cost-effectiveness bar the government of a higher-income country might use for its citizens), but itâs nowhere close to the EA funding bar which is about $80/ââDALY at the moment I thinkâabout 50x as much.
EA money has a very high cost-effectiveness bar. Something not reaching it doesnât mean that thing is not a good thing, it just means that we havenât (yet) worked out how to get it cost-effective enough that we can save more lives by reallocting our grant pots towards it. If you can think of a way to deliver menopause education (or sanitary product handout) in a way thatâs many times more cost-effective than the standard method, it might be worth doing some additional investigation?
NOVAH (domenstic violence prevention), Lafiyah Nigeria (contraceptive access), and FEM (contraceptive awareness) are the women-specific EA charities I know. There are also very good arguments that the Against Malaria Foundation has substantial benefit to women, as every childâs life saved is a mother who does not have to grieve.