Gates foundation pledges $2.5bn to ‘ignored’ women’s health issues

The Gates Foundation will invest US$2.5bn in women’s health research by 2030, it announced on Monday, focusing on conditions from preeclampsia to menopause.

The pledge is around one-third more than the foundation spent on women’s and maternal health research and development over the past five years.

It is also among the first major commitments since Bill Gates said he would give away his US$200bn fortune by 2045.

Gates said: “Women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded and sidelined. Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health,” said Gates.

“That must change.”

The new funding will support research into under-studied conditions affecting hundreds of millions of women in both high- and low-income countries.

These include preeclampsia – a pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure – and gestational diabetes, as well as heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis and menopause.

Investment will focus on five priority areas: obstetric care and maternal immunisation; maternal health and nutrition; gynaecological and menstrual health; contraceptive innovation; and research into sexually transmitted infections.

The aim is to kickstart research, develop new products, and ensure equitable global access to treatments.

Just one per cent of healthcare research and innovation spending goes to female-specific conditions beyond cancer, according to a 2021 analysis by McKinsey & Co.

Dr Anita Zaidi, the foundation’s head of gender equality, said the field has been held back by data gaps and bias.

She noted that key questions remain unanswered – including how some medicines interact with the uterus.

She told Reuters: “If you look at the literature, there may be only 10 women who’ve been studied, ever.

“We don’t even have the answers to these basic questions.”

Zaidi said the US$2.5bn pledge is a “drop in the bucket” compared to what is needed, and called on governments, philanthropists and the private sector to step in.