The Gates Foundation has announced a $2.5 billion commitment through 2030 to advance women’s health, marking its largest-ever investment in the field. The funding will support a wide range of initiatives — from developing new medicines to prevent maternal deaths to creating vaccines that target infections disproportionately affecting women.The new pledge represents a roughly one-third increase in the foundation’s funding for women’s and maternal health compared to the past five years. It is also a small illustration of the kinds of commitments that Bill Gates is making as he seeks to donate the vast majority of his $114 billion fortune before winding down the foundation over the next 20 years. It is the largest funding commitment the Gates Foundation has made in women’s health.“Investing in women’s health has a lasting impact across generations. It leads to healthier families, stronger economies, and a more just world,” said Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation. “Yet women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined. Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change. But we can’t do it alone.”

Bill Gates: World needs to focus more on women’s health

Speaking at an event with STAT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gates emphasized the lack of research focused on pregnancy and women’s health. “Pregnancy is stunningly under-studied,” he said, adding that the foundation is now a primary funder in areas such as the vaginal microbiome — believed to be key to both pregnancy outcomes and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases — as well as new non-hormonal contraceptive technologies.“Giving birth is still very risky, particularly in low-income countries,” Gates noted. “Even conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes aren’t as well understood for the rich world as they should be.”The foundation said the initiative aims to correct deep-rooted gender disparities in medical research, where the “typical” patient in studies has historically been male.According to a BMJ article published last week by Ru Cheng, the foundation’s director of women’s health initiatives, only 1% of global research and development funding is directed toward women’s health issues outside oncology. Between 2013 and 2023, just 8.8% of U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded research focused exclusively on women.While venture capital investment in women’s health has surged by 300% between 2018 and 2023, it still represents just 2% of total health care venture funding, Cheng noted.The Gates Foundation said it hopes its renewed commitment will help accelerate scientific breakthroughs, expand access to essential care, and close long-standing gaps that have left women’s health underfunded and underprioritized worldwide.