The Gates Foundation announced plans this week to spend $2.5 billion by 2030 on women’s health research, according to an August 4 Reuters article. Focus areas will include obstetric care and maternal immunization, maternal health and nutrition, gynecological and menstrual health, contraceptive innovation, and sexually transmitted infection.
Anita Zaidi, president of the foundation’s Gender Equality Division—who earned an SM degree from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 1999—said in the article that more data on key issues was needed to move the field of women’s health forward.
“If you look at the literature, there may be only 10 women who’ve been studied, ever,” she said. “We don’t even have the answers to basic questions.” She said that $2.5 billion was a “drop in the bucket” compared with what was needed and called on other funders to contribute to this important research.
Zaidi received the School’s Alumni Award of Merit in 2023 and was also named one of the School’s Public Health Champions for her work addressing gender inequality and improving economic opportunities and health for all.
Read the Reuters article: Gates Foundation commits $2.5 billion to ‘ignored’ women’s health