Red or Blue. Left or Right. Listening to the news these days feels like American life exists in a binary. Even public health—a discipline designed to keep populations thriving—is politicized.
But here is the truth: Science doesn’t have a political party.
On a recent episode of our Love, Mia Vita podcast, we chatted with public health expert, Dr. Marla Gold, an infectious disease physician and Dean Emeriti of the School of Public Health at Drexel University. Alongside our CEO, Gerie DiPiano, they discussed clinical literacy and a concept at the heart of how we operate at FemmePharma: Purple Health.
Purple health means that health is a human issue, not one for dividing and conquering. When we let political administrations dictate clinical guidelines, women’s health is usually the first area to suffer.
A Data Vacuum
Dr. Gold pointed out that major federal agencies, like the CDC and FDA, are experiencing leadership gaps, slashed funding, and the systematic suppression of data sets from public view. For a data-driven company like FemmePharma, this vacuum is concerning. We need epidemiological metrics to understand the incidence and prevalence of diseases, so we know where to focus our research.
As Dr. Gold puts it:
“Public health’s mission, the whole concept is to create conditions in which people can be their healthiest, all people… It tries not to concern itself with who those people are, what they do… We are here for everyone. Once we start thinking, no, no, only this group or that group, we get into trouble.”
When public health infrastructure goes away, misinformation fills the void. This plays out in the resurgence of eradicated diseases like measles, driven by misinformation loops on social media. When a population can’t trust federal resources, health literacy plummets, leaving women vulnerable to information without clinical backing.
The Cost of ‘Bad’ Science
When political figures make medical proclamations, there are measurable impacts on patient care. Take the recent controversy surrounding acetaminophen (Tylenol) use during pregnancy.
Despite a study proving no statistical cause-and-effect relationship between a mother taking acetaminophen and a child developing autism, political rhetoric instructed pregnant women to ‘tough out’ their high fevers.
Following the announcement, Dr. Gold highlighted data showing an average 17% drop in ER doctors prescribing acetaminophen to pregnant women with raging fevers. This shift happened because institutional guidance was influenced by politics. Yet the clinical data is clear: an unmanaged high fever poses a verified danger to the mother and fetus. This rhetoric also taps into a historic pattern in medicine: blaming women.
Let’s Talk About Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
Recently, governmental bodies and organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supported getting rid of certain black box warnings on HRT products—but no new data was presented. (Historically these warnings scared women away from treatment, due to a 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study.)
This is a problem because we need new data evaluating age cohorts, dosing, ingredient combinations, and routes of administration to understand how HRT can be of maximum benefit to women—and progress only happens with updated information. For example, we need pharmacokinetics to track systemic absorption when we look at whether localized treatments used intravaginally stay localized.
Another requisite for gathering new data in women’s health—and we still have to say it—is that women must be included in the design of clinical trials.
Mia Vita Offers Clinical Certainty
Because our healthcare landscape is so fragmented, women don’t know who, or which products, they can trust. Our Mia Vita line of products is completely safe to use alongside systemic HRT.
Whether you are navigating menopause with a prescription hormone regimen or pursuing non-hormonal avenues, look to our FDA-cleared products. If you are taking systemic HRT and still need non-hormonal relief for localized vaginal dryness, Mia Vita products like our Personal Lubricant & Moisturizer and Intimate Skin Moisturizer complement your medical care.
When we look at the weight of healthcare challenges women face, Dr. Gold offers another thought:
“A colleague of mine once said years ago, we are either a society who only cares for itself or we’re a society where we care for each other. And I would submit to you; diseases travel in a way where the only answer…is that we have to care for each other. There’s your purple.”
At FemmePharma, we are committed to scientific equity and clinical excellence. Shop our Mia Vita line here, and use our podcasts to have data-driven conversations with your healthcare practitioners!
Hear the full conversation with Dr. Marla Gold and Gerie DiPiano on the Love Mia Vita podcast. Be sure to catch Parts 1 and 2!
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