Key Takeaways
- $2.5 billion pledge through 2030 marks the Gates Foundation’s largest-ever investment in women’s health.
- Funding aims to develop new medicines, vaccines, and address deep-rooted gender disparities in medical research.
- Only 1% of global R&D funding targets women’s health issues outside oncology.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $2.5 billion through 2030 to advance women’s health globally. This historic pledge represents the foundation’s largest-ever investment in the field and a roughly one-third increase compared to its previous five years of funding.
Addressing Critical Gaps in Women’s Healthcare
The funding will support a wide range of initiatives, from developing new medicines to prevent maternal deaths to creating vaccines targeting infections that disproportionately affect women. The commitment comes as Bill Gates works to donate the vast majority of his $114 billion fortune before winding down the foundation over the next two decades.
“Investing in women’s health has a lasting impact across generations. It leads to healthier families, stronger economies, and a more just world,” said Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation. “Yet women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined. Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change. But we can’t do it alone.”
Bill Gates on the Research Deficit
Speaking at an event with STAT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gates emphasized the severe lack of research focused on pregnancy and women’s health.
“Pregnancy is stunningly under-studied,” he said, adding that the foundation is now a primary funder in areas such as the vaginal microbiome — believed to be key to both pregnancy outcomes and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases — as well as new non-hormonal contraceptive technologies.
“Giving birth is still very risky, particularly in low-income countries,” Gates noted. “Even conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes aren’t as well understood for the rich world as they should be.”
Confronting Gender Disparities in Medical Research
The initiative aims to correct deep-rooted gender disparities where the “typical” patient in medical studies has historically been male. According to a BMJ article by Ru Cheng, the foundation’s director of women’s health initiatives, the statistics reveal alarming funding gaps.
Only 1% of global research and development funding is directed toward women’s health issues outside oncology. Between 2013 and 2023, just 8.8% of U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded research focused exclusively on women.
While venture capital investment in women’s health has surged by 300% between 2018 and 2023, it still represents just 2% of total healthcare venture funding.
The Gates Foundation hopes its renewed commitment will accelerate scientific breakthroughs, expand access to essential care, and close long-standing gaps that have left women’s health underfunded and underprioritized worldwide.
