Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presented the 'Somos. Contamos' program on Monday to end discrimination against women in health research.
The initiative seeks to rectify a historical imbalance in medical science where women have often been excluded from clinical trials. By ensuring gender-inclusive research, the government aims to improve diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy for the female population.
The event took place at the Fundación Ortega-Marañón in Madrid. Sánchez was joined by three ministers [1] representing the portfolios of Science, Innovation and Universities, Health, and Equality.
The program, titled 'Somos. Contamos: fin de la discriminación de las mujeres en la investigación de la salud,' focuses on eradicating biases that persist within scientific methodology. The presence of the three ministries highlights a cross-governmental effort to integrate gender perspectives into the national healthcare and research infrastructure.
Officials said the project will target the systemic gaps in how health data is collected and analyzed. This approach is intended to ensure that medical breakthroughs are applicable to all patients regardless of gender, a shift that requires changing both institutional policies and researcher training.
By centering the program at the Fundación Ortega-Marañón, the administration signals a partnership between government leadership and established scientific foundations. The effort is part of a broader strategy to modernize Spanish science and ensure that public health investments produce equitable outcomes for the entire citizenry.
“The initiative seeks to rectify a historical imbalance in medical science.”
The launch of 'Somos. Contamos' reflects a growing global movement toward gender-specific medicine. For decades, many clinical trials relied primarily on male subjects, leading to a 'gender gap' in medical knowledge that can result in misdiagnosis or ineffective treatments for women. By institutionalizing this requirement across science, health, and equality ministries, Spain is attempting to move from passive inclusion to a mandatory structural change in how medical evidence is generated.
