Closing Women’s Health Gap: An Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies in the World

Investments addressing the women’s health gap could add years to life and life to years – and potentially boost the global economy by 1 trillion annually by 2040. When discussing the challenges in women’s health, a common rejoinder is that women, on average, live longer than men. But this neglects the fact that women spend 25% more of their lives in debilitating health. Addressing the gaps and shortcomings in women’s health could reduce the time women spend in poor health by almost two-thirds. This has the potential to help 3. 9 billion women live healthier, higher-quality lives by adding an average of seven days of healthy living for each woman annually, adding up to potentially more than 500 days over a woman’s lifetime. Beyond the societal impacts of healthier women, including more progression in education and intergenerational benefits, 3 improving women’s health could also enable women to participate in the workforce more actively. This would potentially boost the economy by at least 1 trillion annually by 2040. These estimates – while significant – are likely an underestimation given data limitations. There are four primary areas that need to be addressed to close the health gap: Science, Data, Care Delivery and Investment. These factors play out in many different ways and to varying extents across regions and income levels. However, the evidence suggests that no geographic region or age group is unaffected. Moving forward requires understanding the broader effects of the women’s health gap, and driving action on five fronts: Invest in women-centric research across the research and development (R&D) continuum to fill the gaps in under-researched, often undiagnosed women-specific conditions (for example, endometriosis, and pregnancy and maternal health complications), as well as diseases affecting women differently and/or disproportionately (for example, cardiovascular disease), strengthen the systematic collection, analysis and reporting of sex- and gender-specific data to establish a more accurate representation of women’s health burden and evaluate the impact of different interventions, increase access to women-specific care in all areas, from prevention to treatment, create incentives for investment in areas of women’s health innovation and develop new financing models, implement policies supporting women’s health, such as academic institutions adapting medical school curricula and employers creating pregnancy- and menopause-friendly workspaces. An ecosystem approach, involving multi-sectoral stakeholders, is needed to accomplish these goals. It is possible to create better health for women, allowing greater workforce participation and, most importantly, the ability to live healthier lives.