Closing women's health gap could add $1T annually to global economy: World Economic Forum
The report by World Economic Forum and McKinsey Institute suggested that closing the gender health gap will be akin to giving 137 million women full-time jobs by 2040.
Addressing the women’s health gap could potentially boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report said on Wednesday. This means a 1.7% increase in the average per capita GDP generated by women.
The report highlighted that women spend around 25% of their time in bad health.
“A woman will spend an average of nine years in poor health, affecting her ability to be present and/or productive at home, in the workforce and in the community, and reducing her earning potential,” it noted.
The disparity in women’s health affects not only their quality of life but also their economic participation and ability to earn a living for themselves and their families.
“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,” Shyam Bishen, Head of Centre for Health and Healthcare at WEF, said in a statement.
The report suggested that closing the healthcare gap would amount to giving 137 million women full-time jobs globally by 2040. It can help lift women out of poverty, enabling them to support themselves and their families.
“Addressing the drivers of this gap, namely lower effectiveness of treatments for women, worse care delivery and lack of data, would require substantial investment, but also reflect new market opportunities,” the report said.
The report—'Closing the Women's Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies'—released during the WEF's 54th annual conference in Davos, Switzerland was a collaborative effort of WEF with the McKinsey Health Institute.
According to the report, addressing 10 conditions, including premenstrual syndrome (PMS), depressive symptoms and migraines, could make up more than 50% of the economic impact.
“The potential value created through women’s higher economic participation and productivity exceeds the costs of implementation by a ratio of $3 to $1 globally,” it added.
The report highlighted the root causes of this existing health gap. It put historical biases in biomedical research as one of the reasons. It also underscored disparities in medical therapy effectiveness, research priorities, and safety risks for women, illustrating that asthma inhalers are significantly less effective for women than men.
It added that research in women’s health primarily focuses on diseases with high mortality, overlooking other diseases leading to disability.
It also shed light on the problem of how data is collected and used, leading to gaps in understanding and prioritising women's health issues. This lack of proper information affects how women's conditions are diagnosed and treated, resulting in less attention and investment in important areas.
The report emphasised that women globally, despite differences in health education, may lack awareness of what's normal regarding conditions like painful periods, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or uterine fibroids. This limited awareness can affect their ability to recognise when to seek medical advice.
With the care system designed to be male-centric, it can contribute to delays in care and lower-quality treatment decisions for women.
“Women are seven times more likely than men to have a heart condition misdiagnosed or be discharged during a heart attack,” it stated.
Also, lower investment in women's health conditions perpetuates a cycle of limited scientific understanding and insufficient data, affecting all regions and age groups.
The way forward
The report suggested some actions to be taken on the following five fronts:
- Invest in women-centric research across the research and development (R&D) to fill the gaps in under-researched, often undiagnosed women-specific conditions (for example, endometriosis, and pregnancy and maternal health complications), as well as diseases affecting women differently and/or disproportionately (for example, cardiovascular disease).
- Strengthen the systematic collection, analysis and reporting of sex- and gender-specific data to establish a more accurate representation of women’s health burden and evaluate the impact of different interventions.
- Increase access to women-specific care in all areas—from prevention to treatment.
- Create incentives for investment in areas of women’s health innovation and develop new financing models.
- Implement policies supporting women’s health, such as academic institutions adapting medical school curricula and employers creating pregnancy- and menopause-friendly workspaces.
Edited by Kanishk Singh