Policy & regulation

Fertility Action has launched a campaign highlighting England's NHS IVF postcode lottery, delivering 30 boxes of negative pregnancy tests to Parliament. The charity is calling for fairer access to NHS-funded fertility treatment, with each box representing an Integrated Care Board (ICB) offering eligible patients just one funded IVF cycle. Of those 30 ICBs, 19 offer [...]

The US has opened a funding call offering up to US$1m to update women's preventive care guidelines and support their use in clinical practice. The funding will be awarded to one organisation in fiscal year 2027 to establish a multidisciplinary coalition responsible for reviewing existing recommendations. The programme, called the Women's Initiative for Screening and [...]

Women living and working in Spain will be eligible for paid menopause sick leave from 1 December 2026 if a doctor confirms a related condition prevents them from working. The reform will provide specific medical leave for women experiencing incapacitating health problems associated with menopause. Eligible workers will receive Social Security benefits from the second [...]

Northern Ireland has announced £1.9m for endometriosis services, aiming to reduce waiting times and improve access to diagnosis, treatment and support. Health minister Robbie Butler announced the ring-fenced funding, which will support specialist treatment centres and strengthen local services across the region. Butler said: “For too many women, endometriosis can affect every aspect of daily [...]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a framework with the first set of priority indicators to track extreme heat risks for pregnant women, newborns and children. The indicators are intended to help countries monitor heat-related health impacts, improve preparedness and respond more quickly to rising temperatures. The launch follows growing evidence linking extreme heat [...]

HSBC Innovation Banking has joined eight other founding partners of FemTick, an accreditation scheme aimed at fairer treatment of women's health businesses. Developed by CensHERship, the scheme will assess financial and commercial service providers on their approach to risk classification, customer experience and organisational accountability. It aims to help femtech companies identify providers whose policies [...]

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order alongside first lady Melania Trump directing the federal government to strengthen women's health research and improve how findings are used in clinical care and policy. A new women's health division will sit within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), while the White House task force will [...]

Up to 20 maternity units in England may need to close or change their role to keep mothers and babies safe, an NHS leader has warned. Matthew Hopkins, the NHS Alliance’s director for acute care, told The Guardian that shortages of specialist doctors and rising caesarean section rates were making smaller maternity units increasingly difficult to sustain. [...]

US maternity ward closures are increasing as federal Medicaid cuts take effect, with further closures expected ahead of wider changes in 2027. An analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care found that 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with another eight announcing plans to close. The bill [...]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global roadmap to tackle hypertension in pregnancy and reduce deaths and serious illness among women and babies. The plan covers hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, which involve high blood pressure and can cause serious illness during pregnancy. These disorders affect an estimated 10 to 15 per [...]