Ihe limitation of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in various countries, the debates on its constitutionalization in France and the confusion maintained between “right” and “freedom” have shown the precariousness of this fundamental right throughout the world. The operationalization of access to abortion pills today seems to be an essential element to make it effective. Recently, the supply tensions in France on these same pills raise major questions. Drug policies must also be rethought from a feminist angle.
“The body of women has been little studied, and therefore poorly cared for. » This is the observation of infectiologist Antonella Viola: in terms of medical research and attention to women’s bodies, non-existent differences or differences resulting from social constructions have been essentialized, while real biological differences have been ignored. . This thesis covers what we all experience one day and the observations that we have been able to draw up through numerous works: the system of research and development, production and access to diagnostics, drugs and health products is not guided by the health needs of all populations.
This system disadvantages populations considered less profitable and discriminated against, such as women, LGBTQI people and all those living in low and middle income countries. Thus, “tropical” diseases are the subject of very little biomedical research. It is often foundations or NGOs that are at the origin of major scientific discoveries. And the number of people affected matters far less than where they live and their socio-economic status. It is therefore a global problem: global health inequalities concern as much the design of trials and research objectives as access to drugs.
Little studied morphological differences
Other examples, specifically affecting women, including in rich countries, are also striking. This is the case with endometriosis, a very common condition, for which there is no drug treatment for the disease itself, very little research on the causes and factors, and no non-invasive diagnosis worthy of the name. . Because another way of denying a health priority is to abandon research and the production of tools allowing it to be detected and therefore to measure the importance of the problem.
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