The Gates Foundation pledged $2.5 billion through 2030 for women’s health research, targeting conditions that have been ignored or misunderstood for decades, according to a foundation press release. The money will back more than 40 new treatments and tools in five areas that get little funding, especially for women in poorer countries. The foundation wants to spark what it calls “a new era of women-centered research” where women’s bodies and health needs finally get the attention they deserve.
Women’s health gets a tiny slice of medical research money. Only 1% of healthcare research and development goes to female-specific conditions beyond cancer, according to a 2021 McKinsey analysis. Hundreds of millions of women suffer from problems like preeclampsia, endometriosis, and heavy bleeding that doctors still don’t understand well. Many women die from preventable causes or live with chronic pain because the medical world hasn’t bothered to study their conditions properly.
“For too long, women have suffered from health conditions that are misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or ignored,” said Dr. Anita Zaidi, who heads the foundation’s Gender Equality Division. Bill Gates added that “women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined.” The foundation plans to focus on obstetric care, maternal health and nutrition, gynecological problems, better birth control options, and sexually transmitted infections. They’re particularly interested in breakthrough areas like vaginal microbiome research and non-hormonal contraception.
The five focus areas were picked based on where new treatments could save the most lives and what women in low-income countries say they need most. The foundation also looked at conditions that get misdiagnosed because doctors don’t know enough about them. Research shows every $1 spent on women’s health brings back $3 in economic growth, and fixing the gender health gap could add $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.
The foundation hopes other donors, governments, and companies will match their commitment since $2.5 billion still isn’t enough to close all the gaps in women’s health research and development.
