Investing in women's health could unlock $400 billion in global GDP annually: WEF

Making a strong case for investing in women's health worldwide, the World Economic Forum on Jan 21 said its new research shows that closing the women's health gap could unlock USD 400 billion in global GDP annually by 2040.

The Forum also launched at its annual meeting a new Women's Health Impact Tracking platform, a publicly accessible tool designed to monitor and bridge the health gaps faced by millions of women worldwide.

The new report, Blueprint to Close the Women's Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All, was published in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI).

It highlighted that women live 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men and showed how targeted action around nine key health conditions could reduce the global disease burden by 27 million disability-adjusted life years and add the equivalent of 2.5 healthy days per woman per year.

The nine conditions are divided into lifespan conditions, related to a total number of years lived (maternal hypertensive disorders, postpartum hemorrhage, ischemic heart disease, cervical cancer and breast cancer) and health span conditions, related to how many of those years are healthy (endometriosis, menopause, migraine and premenstrual syndrome).

"Measuring progress is essential for driving meaningful change and developing effective healthcare strategies tailored to women," said Shyam Bishen, Head of the Centre for Health and Healthcare and member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum.

"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 Women's Health Impact Tracking (WHIT) platform provides a vital tool to identify these gaps and offers actionable insights to close them," he added.

"It is time to count women, study women, care for women, invest in women and include all women," said Lucy Perez, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and Co-leader of the McKinsey Health Institute.

The new report highlighted critical disparities in women's health outcomes, driven by gaps in data collection, research funding, clinical practice guidelines and healthcare delivery systems.

The research identified five key actions for stakeholders to address these imbalances and unlock the vast, untapped potential of greater health equity.

These included counting women or investing in better data collection to reveal the real burden of women's health conditions; studying women by funding research into female-specific health concerns and sex-based differences; and caring for women by ensuring clinical guidelines reflect best practices tailored to women's unique needs.

The other action areas included all women by addressing disparities affecting marginalized groups for broader health equity; and investing in women by mobilizing funding for innovative healthcare solutions and delivery models.

The WEF called for urgent action by governments, private sector, researchers, civil society and communities worldwide to set agendas and allocate resources in this regard.

Now is the time to act and ensure that every woman and girl can live healthier, more productive lives, it said.

(PTI)