The gender health gap sees women spend billions more each year on healthcare compared to men. It maintains that women have poorer access to health care, and receive incorrect or delayed diagnoses. It also sees women receive less effective treatments than men, as the history of women’s health being systematically under-researched, under-funded and under-valued continues.
The gap equates to 75 million years of life lost due to poor health or early death per year.
Closing it could boost global GDP by at least $1 trillion a year by 2040 and lead to a 1.7 per cent increase in per capita GDP, a new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) has revealed.
Improving women’s health can ensure that women have greater workforce participation, fewer lost hours, and higher productivity, the report found. Closing the gap will also boost future generations’ health and improve healthy aging.
Beyond establishing that better health correlates with economic prosperity, closing the gender health gap will also ensure more women live healthier, higher-quality lives. After all, while improving women’s health leads to positive economic outcomes, the main focus of this issue is health equity and inclusivity.
The report analysed the health conditions that disproportionately affect women, examining 183 of the most widely used interventions across 64 health conditions. These health conditions, including asthma and cardiovascular disease, amount to roughly 90 percent of the health burden for women.
Analysts then looked at more than 650 academic papers to examine the extent of the phenomenon where women and men experience differences in the effectiveness of a medicine designed for both sexes.
Only half of interventions studies reported sex-disaggregated data, and of these studies, 64 percent of the interventions put women at a disadvantage due to lower efficacy, more limited access, or both.
Meanwhile, just 10 per cent of interventions put men at a disadvantage due to lower efficacy, more limited access, or both. The report revealed that on average, women spend 25 per cent more of their life in poor health than men.
Shyam Bishen, Head of the Centre for Health and Healthcare at the World Economic Forum, said that the report “demonstrates that addressing the women’s health gap and investing in women’s health must be a priority for every country.”
“Beyond improving women’s quality of life, ensuring women have access to innovations in healthcare is one of the best investments that countries can make for their societies and their economies,” Bishen said.
The report concluded that closing the health gap could generate the equivalent impact of 137 million women accessing full-time positions by 2040.
Addressing the causes for the gap, which include lower effectiveness of treatments for women, worse care delivery, and lack of data, can ensure that more women are lifted out of poverty, allowing them to provide for themselves and their families.
Investing in women’s health can also minimise the time women spend in poor health by almost two-thirds, improving the health outcomes of more than 3.9 billion people worldwide.
Anita Zaidi, President, Gender Equality Division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, believes that industry leaders must step up to create new financing models and innovative business policies that will generate greater access to gender-specific care.
“The disparities that women face in accessing and receiving quality healthcare are not only inequitable – they are unjust,” Zaidi said.
“Investing in women’s health doesn’t just yield better outcomes for women, but it is also a direct investment in families, communities, societies and economies.”
“Closing the gender health gap must be an urgent priority for every country: our collective future depends on it.”
This week, in their efforts to improve the lives of billions of people around the world, the World Economic Forum launched the Global Alliance for Women’s Health. The multi-sector global platform will focus on finding evidence that investing in women’s health will boost the global economy while working to promote the health of women and closing the health gap.
Several groups have joined the alliance, pledging their commitment to spearhead the alliance’s priorities of financing, science and innovation and agenda-setting.
Western Australian economic development group Tower Capital Group have pledged to commit over $25 million this year to build equitable support for the highest unmet need categories in generational and women’s health.
Last year, Rotary International launched the Rotary Healthy Communities Challenge, committed $30 million towards disease prevention, treatment, maternal and child health in countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia.
The Global Alliance for Women’s Health alliance will be led by a group of world leaders representing the diversity of stakeholders involved in advancing women’s health.
Anita Zaidi will serve as board chair of the Global Alliance for Women’s Health. Other distinguished leaders joining her on the board include Catherine Russel, Executive Director, UNICEF; Elisabeth Staudinger, Member of the Board, Siemens Healthineers and Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Economy and Finance of Morocco.