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

Progress and actions needed to close the women’s health gap FIGURE 1 Together, these actions could initiate a global shift to close the women’s health gap. Based on recent Forum and MHI analyses and expertise from the Global Alliance for Women’s Health working groups, addressing health disparities could create greater impact on mortality for conditions affecting lifespan than any single treatment studied in recent clinical trials.13 Other actions, such as improving clinical practice guidelines and incorporating sex- and gender-based differences into clinical education and training, could help to overhaul a healthcare delivery system that was not designed for women and is underserving them. Addressing these areas could help to extend the health of women and capture the aligned and substantial economic benefits that come with a thriving population. Closing the women’s health gap for the selected conditions could contribute nearly $400 billion in annual GDP to the global economy and close the burden gap by almost 27 million DALYs each year, translating to 2.5 additional healthy days per year for each woman in the world. These efforts can, and will, reach far beyond the lives of individual women. Investors, researchers, academics, non-profits, providers, life sciences companies and governments have reasons to improve the health of women. Healthier women are cornerstones of strong families, prosperous communities, vibrant workplaces and resilient economies. Better health for women throughout their lives could create at least $1 trillion in annual incremental economic growth by 2040.This is separate from the commercial market for new products and services that can be developed, which the Forum and MHI analysis shows could add more than $500 billion to the global economy by addressing the selected conditions alone. A substantial and strategic allocation of resources through cross-stakeholder commitments and collaboration could improve health outcomes for women globally, as would redesigning the health system to deliver equitable, high-value care. Stakeholder action throughout the women’s health ecosystem could accelerate progress, reduce health disparities and close the women’s health gap. In the past year, hearing from individuals and stakeholders who have shared their path to advancing the health of women has been inspiring. For many, their personal journeys drove them to become investors, advocates, educators or business leaders pushing to better understand women’s health at a global scale. For others, efforts are inspired by wanting to change outcomes for women, given that women’s health affects each and every person around the world. Initiatives that have launched in the past year include redesigning components of clinical education, investing in women-focused health start-ups, advancing biomedical research on sex-specific differences and hormone health and advocating for policy changes at local, national and international levels. This momentum should not be halted, as the need to highlight women’s health comes in an era in which competition for attention and awareness of any health topic – whether it is pushing for investment in women’s health-span conditions or reiterating care standards – may be increasingly challenging. The past year has, however, demonstrated that progress is possible on a short timeline, and that champions around the world are motivated to act. Now is the time to make a difference and expand the number of champions driving the agenda across the public, private and social sectors to close the women’s health gap. Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All 7Count women Improve data collection methodologies and set standar ds for sex- and gender -based data collection to increase the understanding of women’ s healthStudy women Conduct research into women’s health and the drivers of sex-based differences, undertake sex-disaggregated analyses and support basic science and research that focuses on conditions specific to women across their lifespansCare for women Adopt clinical practice guidelines that align with the accepted evidence for sex- and gender -based care, and enhance clinical education and the care delivery systems needed to effectively implement themInvest in research, clinical education, training and care delivery, with a lens on heath equity and inclusionInclude all women Invest in women Funnel resour ces towar ds women’ s health, from the bench to the bedside and beyond, to accelerate progress and support women in leadership positions