US First Lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance at a White House Rose Garden event to personally announce the Trump administration's new policies aimed at improving women's health, The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 19th (local time).

The newspaper noted that the appearance by Melania Trump, who rarely engages in public activities, comes as President Donald Trump struggles to boost approval ratings among female voters, with the midterm elections just two weeks away.

According to the reports, President Trump signed an executive order establishing an Office of Women's Health within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a separate White House Task Force on Women's Health.

"Starting today, we are going to change the reality of women's health," Melania Trump said at the event. "Previous generations fought for women's rights, and our generation will fight to find treatments so that women can live full and healthy lives."

Speaking afterward, President Trump called the policy a "historic step" and praised the First Lady's efforts.

Attributing great significance to the policy, President Trump said he had asked Melania Trump, "Is there really no such thing [as an office of women's health]?"

The newly launched White House Task Force on Women's Health will be co-chaired by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The White House task force is tasked with cooperating with various federal agencies and programs.

However, the executive order signed today did not include provisions regarding funding, such as budget increases.

The White House announcement came approximately two weeks ahead of the midterm elections on November 3.

According to a recent poll released by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago, approval ratings among female voters for President Trump's governance remained at around one-third.

In particular, the proportion of respondents who answered that healthcare issues are a major issue in this election was higher among women than men.

The NYT pointed out that, separate from today's policy announcement, the NIH has already maintained an Office of Research on Women's Health since 1990.

The newspaper also noted that shortly after the launch of the second Trump administration in April, the administration drastically slashed the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services' long-term research initiative, the Women's Health Initiative.

In the process of scaling back and abolishing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, the Trump administration had announced the cuts to the research budget, but rolled them back following fierce backlash.

The Associated Press reported that with President Trump's executive order signing, a previous executive order and policy initiative related to expanding women's health research budgets issued by the Joe Biden administration in 2023 was rescinded.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)