New research from the World Economic Forum found that addressing the top nine women’s health conditions could unlock US$400 billion (A$640 billion) in global GDP annually by 2024.
According to the new report published in collaboration with McKinsey Health Institute (MHI), Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All, women live 25% more of their lives in poor health in comparison to men. It also showed how targeting around nine key conditions could reduce the global burden by 27 million disability-adjusted life years and add the equivalent of 2.5% healthy days per woman per year.
The collaboration between the Forum and MHI has led to the launch of the Women’s Health Impact Tracking (WHIT). WHIT is a publically accessible tool designed to measure and address global health gaps and provide solutions worldwide.
The platform highlights the urgent need to invest in three underfunded conditions: menopause, premenstrual syndrome and migraines, representing a US$315 billion GDP opportunity.
Head of the Centre of Health and Healthcare and member of the executive committee of the World Economic Forum, Shyam Bishen said the WHIT platform is a vital tool in identifying these gaps and offering solutions.
“Measuring progress is essential for driving meaningful change and developing effective healthcare strategies tailored to women,” Bishen said.
“Despite the opportunity to add 2.5 additional healthy days to women’s lives, they are often overlooked due to a lack of sex-specific research – only 10% of clinical trials for ischemic heart disease and migraine report such data.”
The research identified five key actions for stakeholders to take to unlock the potential for greater health equity. These are to count women in data, fund research into female-specific health concerns and sex-based differences, care for women's unique needs, include all women, and invest in women.
“Healthier women form the foundation of stronger families, productive workplaces and resilient economies, and yet profound gender gaps in research and scientific innovation continue to deny women the basic tools, treatments and services they need to remain healthy,” Board Co-Chair of The Global Alliance for Women’s Health and President of Gender Equality at the Gates Foundation, Anita Zaidi said.
The research shows that the commercial market for new products and services that could be developed to target the nine top conditions alone could inject more than US$500 billion into the economy.
The nine conditions were split into two categories, conditions that affect lifespan (Ischaemic heart disease, cervical cancer, breast cancer, maternal hypertensive disorder and Post-partum haemorrhage) and conditions that affect health span (Menopause, premenstrual syndrome, migraine, endometriosis).
Overall, better health for women throughout their lives could contribute at least US$1 trillion in annual incremental growth by 2040.
