The Gates Foundation today announced a $2.5 billion, five-year initiative focused on women’s health that will support innovation in care, bolster data collection and aims to catalyze additional investments.
The effort represents the largest ever commitment to women’s health research and development, addressing a significant funding gap. A 2021 McKinsey study found that only 1% of healthcare R&D is invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology, while a 2023 report from international health organizations found that a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth.
The initiative is centered on five areas that the philanthropy believes have been overlooked and are primed for breakthroughs with wide-reaching impacts:
- Diagnosing and treating issues with menstrual and gynecological health, such as heavy menstrual cycles that cause anemia and addressing the vaginal microbiome
- Contraceptive innovation
- Diagnosing and treating sexually transmitted infections
- Improving maternal health and nutrition, including immunizations and gut health
- Bolstering safety in pregnancy and childbirth
About 60% of the funding will be focused on obstetrics and maternal health. The philanthropy is supporting 40 innovations and 70% of the new investment will go towards R&D and product development, foundation leaders said on a call Monday with global media.
“I’ve seen firsthand what happens when there’s a lack of attention paid to women’s health conditions,” said Dr. Ru Cheng, director of women’s health innovations at Gates Foundation. “There’s no solutions. There’s delays in diagnosis. Or the solutions that exist are very old, and they lack features that make it such that women actually want to use them.”
Promising new technologies include an injectable, discreet contraceptive for women that lasts for six months, and the use of artificial intelligence with ultrasounds so any primary health care provider will be able to read them.
The organization emphasized that the investments are meant to help women in low-resource communities worldwide, including the U.S. Idaho, for example, has lost 35% of its obstetrician-gynecologist physicians since the state began implementing strict abortion bans in 2022.
“Investing in women’s health has a lasting impact across generations. It leads to healthier families, stronger economies, and a more just world,” said Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, in a statement.
“Yet women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined,” he added. “Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change. But we can’t do it alone.”
The Seattle-based philanthropy is the world’s largest private foundation. In May, Gates committed to giving away $200 billion — including nearly all of his wealth — over the next two decades through the foundation. The organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and will sunset its operations on Dec. 31, 2045.
The global public health sector is facing additional challenges following recent changes to U.S. foreign aid policy. The Trump administration is dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — a move that could lead to 14 million additional deaths worldwide by the end of this decade, according to new research.
Looking at the $2.5 billion initiative, “we’re approaching it as a moment to catalyze the entire community, the global ecosystem around women’s health research and development,” Cheng said. “It’s really an invitation, it’s a call to action, and it’s really to highlight the urgency and the need.”
