Uniting world leaders to improve lives and economies in 2025 and beyond

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A shocking year

This week marks one year since the Alliance was founded. During this time, we have brought together more than 120 member organizations from the private, public and philanthropic sectors to address systemic inequalities in women's health. Since then, it has become a trusted multi-stakeholder platform for highlighting women's health disparities and working to close them.

In its first year, the partnership 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. This alliance also community of champions In time for the 2024 United Nations General Assembly, we enlisted 15 influential advocates to advance women's health on a global platform.

The creation of this community was an important step toward elevating women's voices and providing leadership in this field. And there will be more to come in 2025.

In January 2025, the Alliance collaborated with the McKinsey Institute for Health Research to launch the Women's Health Impact Tracking (WHIT) platform, which provides insights and achievable metrics to identify and address disparities in women's health. I'll launch it. The launch of the platform coincides with the publication of the second Women's Health Gap Report. A blueprint for closing the women's health gap: How to improve everyone's lives and economies..

What we can learn from women's health data

The coalition's research on women's health disparities shows that women's health priorities are significantly underfunded relative to women's health burdens.

In fact, one-third of women's health disparities in data availability, care delivery, and care effectiveness are due to menopause, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), endometriosis, maternal hypertensive disorders, postpartum hemorrhage, It is accounted for by only nine diseases, including migraine and ischemic heart disease. , cervical cancer, breast cancer.

PMS, menopause, maternal health conditions, cervical cancer, and endometriosis, which account for 14% of women's health burden, will contribute to women's health disparities between 2019 and 2023. Less than 1% of cumulative research funding was allocated to symptoms.

Research shows that addressing gaps in these nine conditions could save 27 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per year, which translates to an additional 2.7 healthy days per woman per year. equivalent. And by 2040, global annual GDP will reach $1 trillion.

Research on the second edition of the Women's Health Disparities Report confirms the previous report's findings that data across these nine conditions are inconsistent, underreported, and unreliable. This lack of data leaves critical gaps in the ability of policy leaders and health professionals to understand, address, and invest in women's health, particularly regarding these nine conditions.

WHIT highlights critical gaps in data, care delivery, and care effectiveness and quantifies the potential economic benefits of closing these gaps. The platform will provide data to guide strategic investments, optimize resource allocation, and help the global community catalyze new efforts to close women's health gaps.

Using data to transform research practice

According to research, Only 22% of participants in Phase 1 clinical trials are women. This lack of representation leaves critical gaps in understanding women's unique health needs, resulting in misdiagnosis and unsafe treatments.

To bring about a much-needed cultural change in research practice, the Alliance, along with a working group of more than 40 organizations including industry, regulators, funding agencies, and research institutions, is launching an initiative on policy change in women's health. I launched it.

The group aims to transform the policy landscape in women's health by advocating for solutions that drive breakthrough innovations in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of women-specific conditions. The company wants more women to participate in clinical trials, especially those who are pregnant and breastfeeding, and to disaggregate clinical trial data by gender, among other solutions.

Accelerating action in low- and middle-income countries

To translate awareness into action, the Alliance works with public and private sector actors to mobilize efforts and resources to improve women's lives at the national level. of the alliance Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer Coalitionis working with the ministries of health in Kenya and Zambia and Siemens Healthineers to close gaps in the treatment of cervical and breast cancer.

In Kenya, the coalition implemented three task forces focused on training programs for community health promoters, efforts to strengthen the capacity and leadership of health workers, and advocacy and communication campaigns. In Zambia, the Coalition recently conducted a stakeholder workshop to identify gaps in cancer care and use this to take action to address these challenges and simplify patient care in 2025. I'm planning to wake up.

The partnership also established the Global Activator Network on Maternal Health in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. This initiative provides a platform to accelerate successful interventions, create a blueprint for effective public-private partnerships, and foster a robust national ecosystem dedicated to maternal health.

The Global Activator Network aims to leverage the collective expertise and experience of member countries to drive progress and ensure healthy lives and well-being for all mothers. It plans to begin collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Health this year.

Mobilizing commitment and funding for sustainable action

A commitment to women's health financing is needed to sustain and strengthen the impactful work being done to improve women's health and lives.

To address the funding gap and develop an undeniable business case for investing in women's health, the Alliance and Tower Capital are establishing the Women's Health Responsible Investment Consortium. The group provides insight into the return on investment in women's health innovations, empowers women innovators and investors, and encourages innovations that address the unique and diverse challenges women face throughout their lives.

In just one year, the Alliance has proven to be a reliable convener for launching new partnerships that bring together stakeholders from different sectors. As we evolve, we aim to create more initiatives while forging new partnerships that will further accelerate progress in women's health.

To maintain momentum regarding women's health research and funding, advocates must remain focused on the challenges and opportunities on the global stage. The Board, Champions, and Alliance members have already demonstrated a commitment to improving women's health as a global challenge, and this will continue in 2025.

The challenge for the global effort is to maintain momentum. The partnership continues to mobilize resources and efforts from both the public and private sectors to drive progress in closing women's health disparities.