Caretaker health minister Pia Dijkstra is earmarking “a substantial amount of money” for research into improving the treatment of health problems specific to women.

Dijkstra, who announced the plan on International Women’s Day, was reacting to an earlier report by the Dutch association of gynecologists and obstetricians NVOG and lobby group Women Inc. That report highlighted the lack of attention to, and knowledge about women-specific health problems, such as endometriosis, severe menstrual pain, menopausal complaints and pelvic floor problems.

Apart from the serious repercussions to the health of the women themselves, the cost of the current level of ignorance among medical professionals runs to some €7.5 billion a year, the report said.

“If over half of the population is dealing with these problems it should be a no-brainer to pay more attention to them,” gynacologist and researcher Astrid Vollebregt told broadcaster NOS.

All too often the complaints associated with women-specific health problems are being dismissed as “female trouble”, both by professionals and the women themselves, the researchers said.

Dijkstra said she found it “incomprehensible” that knowledge about women-specific health problems is still substandard, including in society as a whole.

Women themselves often think what they are experiencing is “part of being a woman”, she said. But, she went on, “there are 8.8 million women in the Netherlands, and sooner or later they will have to deal with health problems related to their sex. Without the proper knowledge we cannot treat them properly.”

It is not clear how much the minister is setting aside for the research but it is thought to be several million euros a year.