The Gates Foundation commits $2.5B to women's health

Politico

5 days ago

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a lovely week. Reach out and say hello: [e-mail] and [e-mail]. This week we're talking about investments in women's health research and development.
The Gates Foundation said Monday it will commit $2.5 billion to women's health research and development through 2030, prioritizing low- and middle-income countries. It's a significant investment for an area that has received minimal funding or attention for decades.
'I'm proud that we're doing this,' Dr. Anita Zaidi, president of the Gates Foundation Gender Equity Division, tells Women Rule. 'But in the context of how much is needed, it's a small amount.'
The Gates Foundation, launched in 2000 by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, has contributed funding to a number of organizations focused on health care, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization. Melinda French Gates resigned from the foundation in 2024 but has since pledged $1 billion to tackle systemic issues impacting women and girls.
The $2.5 billion investment builds upon the organization's existing philanthropic work dedicated to women's health innovation. The investment will focus on five areas, all housed within the reproductive care sphere. Among those are improvements to obstetric care and maternal immunization, as well as expanding the accessibility and effectiveness of contraceptives. But despite the hefty price tag, the investment is a small step forward for an industry that has a lot of catching up to do. A mere 5 percent of global research and development funding was allocated toward women's health care in 2020.
'That really bothers me, the lack of understanding of the biological process for women's bodies, which are very different than male bodies, and we have not invested in that,' Zaidi says. 'So a lot of this is also just understanding basic biology and doing all of that research.'
She attributes this lack of understanding to failures to include women in clinical research and conduct research with gender differences in mind. The inclusion of women in clinical research was not mandated until 1993 with the passage of the NIH Revitalization Act, which required women and minority communities to be incorporated into all clinical trials at the National Institute of Health.
Dr. Basmah Safdar, director of Women's Health Research at Yale, tells Women Rule that women's health has had a long history of shortcomings.
'NIH and other researchers have tried to change that dialogue … and some of that needle has moved,' Safdar says. 'But particularly at a time like this when there is the need to continue that kind of work, the Gates Foundation is filling one part of that gap.'
The investment also comes at a time when federal research grants in the U.S. are seeing sizable cuts. The Trump administration has cut over $1 billion in NIH grants this year, and President Donald Trump's initiative to eliminate any policies promoting 'diversity, equity and inclusion' has sparked concerns over the future of women's health research funding.
Despite the significant investment, Zaidi says it can't fill the gaps in women's health research that the U.S. government has created.
'No foundation or groups of foundations can match the amount of funding and leadership that the U.S. government has provided historically on fighting diseases, poverty and malnutrition around the world, and enabling innovation for global health,' Zaidi says.
Kathryn Schubert, president of the Society for Women's Health Research, tells Women Rule she is heartened by the investments made by the philanthropic community towards women's health research, given recent federal funding cuts.
Schubert says there is a lot of confusion among researchers at her organization — many of which are NIH funded — over whether their grants will continue.
'I think it's really critical for philanthropic investment to step in and assist where it can,' Schubert says. 'I would hope that any investment in women's health that comes at this level would also be sure to look at the needs here in the U.S., not just outside the U.S.'
While the foundation is prioritizing global improvements to women's health research and not specifically focusing on the U.S., Zaidi argues the benefits will be 'positive for women everywhere.'
'When I was lucky enough to be asked to set up and think through what the Gender Equity Division would do, this was my biggest priority, that I really want to spark a new era in health that focuses on women's bodies and women's needs,' Zaidi says.
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