By Elizabeth Beck, Director Incisive Health
Ahead of International Women's Day on Saturday 8th March, Elizabeth Beck reflects back on the past year in women's health to find inspiration.
For those of us passionate about improving women’s health, the last few months have been a particularly trying time.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day, 'Accelerating Action for strategies, resources, and activity that positively impact women's advancement' feels in stark contrast to many of the headlines we see dominating the news in women’s health.
Around the world, health outcomes for women – including those in reproductive health and sexual health, mental health and cancer care – continue to be determined in large part by where women live, their socio-economic status and the colour of their skin, and women continue to spend more of their lives in poor health than men. These inequalities will only be further exacerbated by the Trump administration’s recent freeze on aid and reinstatement of the ‘global gag rule’ banning international NGOs with US funding from providing abortions or offering information.
At a time when addressing these injustices feels increasingly daunting, it is easy for some of the good news stories to be missed. Here are three key takeaways from the last year in women’s health to keep us all inspired in the face of adversity:
1. Women’s health has not been forgotten – the case for investment is strong and there are champions leading the way:
In January 2024, the World Economic Forum launched The Global Alliance for Women’s Health - an alliance aimed at advancing women’s health research and innovation, unlocking more investments for women’s health, and putting women’s health on the global agenda. In its first year, the alliance developed and implemented several high-impact projects and secured $55 million in new funding to improve data, research and care delivery for women’s health.
The year also saw the launch of Melinda French Gates’ $250m fund to improve women’s physical and mental health globally. This fund is part of a wider $1bn donation commitment over the next two years to individuals and organisations working on behalf of women and families globally.
As French Gates noted when launching the fund, despite the unacceptable inequalities in women’s health, we must not lose hope. Organisations around the world are taking innovative approaches to addressing the challenges facing women and girls – and this must be matched by the resourcing required to deliver at scale.
2. Research continues to help us improve our approach:
Women’s health is vastly under researched, with only 5% of global research and development funding allocated to women’s health research in 2020. However, when inclusive research is undertaken, it is instrumental in righting wrongs in the historic approach to women’s health that will ultimately improve outcomes.
Take for example new research published in January by the British Heart Foundation. The study found doctors have been failing to diagnose women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) – a potentially deadly heart condition – because tests do not account for natural differences in sex and body size. This same research found that the new method of diagnosis, which included AI reading thousands of heart scans, is particularly beneficial for women, increasing identification of HCM by 20%.
3. Governments around the world are still listening:
While America’s approach to reproductive rights and foreign aid risks far-reaching negative repercussions, there is progress elsewhere in the world.
Across Europe, a new Women’s Health Interest Group has been set up in the European Parliament. The group is focused on increasing investment in women’s health research, securing access to SRHR, enhancing women's participation in clinical trials, and tackling gender-based violence.
In Africa, three Centers of Excellence in Rwanda, Morocco, and Zambia will be established by the Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC) to gather evidence and accelerate efforts to end cervical cancer in Africa by 2030. The Rwandan Ministry of Health has also launched an Accelerated Plan for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer in Rwanda 2024-2027, also known as Mission 2027. This national strategy outlines concrete actions that will lead to the elimination of cervical cancer in Rwanda by 2027, three years ahead of the global target set by the World Health Organization.
In Australia, the government recently announced $573m for women’s health, following two parliamentary inquiries looking into reproductive health and menopause. The funding will include adding new contraceptive pills and HRT on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) and higher Medicare payments for intrauterine devices (IUDs) and birth control implants.
Although optimism can be hard to find, this International Women’s Day it is important to remember governments are listening and taking action, research continues to reveal new ways for improving outcomes, and women-driven innovation is making a tangible difference to women’s outcomes.
The job for us is to continue advocating for women all over the globe, so that the conversation around women’s health maintains momentum, and delivers for everyone.