Women’s Health – Global Wealth: Catalyzing Returns on Bold Investments

Join us for a high-level dialogue at the World Health Summit 2025 to explore how bold investments in women’s health can yield transformative returns—advancing health outcomes, strengthening economies, and building resilient systems.

Women’s health stands as both a litmus test and a lever for collective progress. Despite accounting for half the world’s population, women’s health remains chronically underfunded and underprioritized. Although sexual and reproductive health R&D funding has nearly doubled since 2018, many female-specific conditions continue to be overlooked. The burden of benign gynecologic diseases now surpasses that of malaria, TB, and HIV combined for women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries.

While global funding for sexual and reproductive health research and development nearly doubled between 2018 and 2023, less than 1% of R&D investment goes toward female-specific conditions beyond oncology. The burden of benign gynecologic diseases now exceeds that of malaria, TB, and HIV combined for women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries.

Yet opportunity is within reach. An investment of $300 million in women’s health R&D could yield $13 billion in economic return. Low-cost, high-impact innovations are market-ready but face barriers to scale due to fragmented financing and weak delivery ecosystems.

This session, convened by UNFPA, will bring together ministers, multilateral partners, philanthropies, and private sector leaders to spotlight how catalytic capital, blended finance, and strategic alignment can accelerate impact.