Closing the Women’s Health Gap

When discussing the challenges in women’s health, a common rejoinder is that women,2 on average, live longer than men. But this neglects the fact that women spend 25% more of their lives in debilitating health.Addressing the gaps and shortcomings in women’s health could reduce the time women spend in poor health by almost two-thirds. This has the potential to help 3.9 billion women live healthier, higher-quality lives by adding an average of seven days of healthy living for each woman annually, adding up to potentially more than 500 days over a woman’s lifetime. Beyond the societal impacts of healthier women, including more progression in education and intergenerational benefits,3 improving women’s health could also enable women to participate in the workforce more actively. This would potentially boost the economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040. These estimates – while significant – are likely an underestimation given data limitations.In this report, women’s health is defined as biological conditions and general health conditions that often affect women uniquely, differently or disproportionately.