Another example is menopause, an expected transition for almost all women: globally, half of post-menopausal women believe that menopause is a taboo subject, and only 46% go to their doctors for symptom management while 28% have no plans to see their doctor.156 Similarly, menstruation is still perceived as a taboo subject by many, including women and girls, leading to meaningful levels of period poverty.157Dignity and trust between women and their providers are the foundation of clinical relationships and successful health outcomes for women. Awareness and education can encourage individuals to advocate for and institutionalize sex- and gender-responsive care, and ensure providers deliver it. The past year has seen substantial public and private commitments for investment in women’s health around the globe – but the work is only beginning.158,159,160,161,162 Innovative investment and funding approaches across the public, private and social sectors have recently launched. For example, Pivotal Ventures released an open call for organizations around the world that advance women’s health and health equity, with $250 million in allocated funding for grants within a broader $1 billion commitment to advance the global power of women.163 The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a research funding agency of the US Government, opened a “Sprint for Women’s Health” to support health and biomedical breakthroughs. Within six months of the announcement, $113 million was invested to support research on conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately, and 70% of the funded organizations are women-led.164 When investments are made, returns are achieved. For every £1 of public investment into obstetrics and gynaecology services per woman in England, there is an 11-fold return on the financial investment.165 Research focused on the biology of health-span conditions requires more funding. For example, a 2024 study found that genetically-predicted levels of certain hormones were associated with endometriosis risk.166 While basic science investments may seem distant from treatment gaps and policy decisions, they are intertwined. When the diagnosis of health-span conditions is delayed, fewer women are counted as having the condition, which can lead to less investment in research. Scientists, life sciences companies and investors require adequate data on prevalence and potential market size to comfortably inform their investments. Investment also means looking at who is leading the research and how a clinical research programme or clinical trial is run. One recent analysis found that when the principal investigators leading cardiovascular clinical trials were women, they were more likely to enrol women.167 Investment is needed in professorships, funded chairs and other dedicated research tracks for women’s health in academic institutions – beyond those in obstetrics and gynaecology departments – recognizing that more than half of the women’s health gap is tied to conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately from men. Investors, philanthropists and government funders can also consider a holistic and comprehensive approach to health beyond the healthcare delivery system. This includes social factors – such as nutrition, education, housing, water, clothing or transport – and how they influence outcomes. For example, UNICEF estimates that more than 400 million children lack access to basic sanitation services at their school, and only about one in three schools offer bins for menstrual waste.168 The connection between unmet social needs and health stretches into HICs – a McKinsey survey found that employed individuals in the US with one or more unmet basic social need were 2.4 times more likely not to receive needed physical healthcare and to have missed six or more days of work in the past year.169 2.5 Invest in women Additional investments are needed to support the other actions. Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All 27

Blueprint to Close the Women%E2%80%99s Health Gap 2025