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

Foreword Over the past year, we have been humbled and honoured to receive an outpouring of support and enthusiasm for our report, Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies. While the numbers behind it may have come as a shock – that women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men, or that the women’s health gap equates to 75 million years of life lost to poor health or early death per year – the report, the result of a collaboration by the World Economic Forum, the Global Alliance for Women’s Health and the McKinsey Health Institute, tapped into what many readers instinctively felt: when it comes to health, women are second-class citizens. But today, all of us also live in an era of longer lifespans, technological innovation, rapid scientific breakthroughs, economic acumen and the ability to advocate for public policy. Global life expectancy has more than doubled over the past 200+ years, with economists estimating that about a third of economic growth in advanced economies in the past century has been tied to improvements in the health of global populations.1,2 Healthcare investments improve the quality of life and gross domestic product growth up to three times the investment in high-income countries.3 These returns on investment boost the business case for improving women’s health and speaking up for those who are struggling the most. This year, we offer a deeper framework to help close the women’s health gap: count women, study women, include all women in research and efforts to improve care and invest in women and girls throughout their lifespan. We also highlight how nine conditions are driving a third of the women’s health gap: the lifespan conditions of ischaemic heart disease, breast cancer, post-partum haemorrhage, cervical cancer and maternal hypertensive disorder; and the health-span conditions of premenstrual syndrome, menopause, endometriosis and migraines. Boosting data availability, care delivery, investment and treatment for the selected conditions could create nearly $400 billion in annual economic improvement by 2040. Focusing on these selected conditions allows us to build a blueprint that, in the future, will be expanded to provide a comprehensive view of women’s health and accelerate progress towards closing the women’s health gap. Progress happens only when we work towards it together and measure improvement. We invite you to join us on the next step of this journey, to improve and save the lives of women and strengthen economies and continue to demonstrate the business case for investing in women’s health.Lucy Pérez Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, Equity & Health Leader, McKinsey Health Institute, USAShyam Bishen Head, Centre for Health and Healthcare; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for AllJanuary 2025 Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All 3