US and Global Health Leaders Push $20B Plan to Fix Women's Diagnostic Gaps

Key points

• SWHR President Katie Schubert announced a $20 billion, 10-year strategy to fund research, education, and data collection for women's health.
• Research from Pivotal indicates that only 5% of global medical research funding targets women's health, despite women comprising over half the population.
• The plan includes five funding categories: research innovation, agency coordination, clinician training, data collection, and health literacy.
• More than 60 health organizations, including the American Heart Association, have signed on to support the roadmap.
• The journal Science published a special issue on October 1, 2026, highlighting sex-dependent biological differences in pain, aging, and menopause.
• The WHO recently emphasized that women's health must extend beyond maternal care to include chronic illness and violence across the life course.

Background

Historically, women were excluded from clinical research until 1993, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) required their inclusion. Even then, women's health funding has declined from 13% of the NIH budget in 1989 to less than 10% today. This lack of data has led to delayed diagnoses for conditions like cardiovascular disease and menopause, which affect 100% of women. The current push for a $20 billion plan follows a broader global trend of redefining women's health beyond reproduction, as highlighted by recent WHO analyses and scientific publications.

How outlets are covering it

CBS News highlights the financial disparity, noting that women spend more time sick than men due to underfunded research. Katie Schubert of SWHR argues that investing in women's health benefits the entire nation, as women drive healthcare spending and manage family health decisions. STAT News and the journal Science emphasize the scientific gap, pointing out that while awareness of menopause and endometriosis has grown, clinical trials still underrepresent women, and research often ignores non-reproductive sex differences. The WHO perspective, reported by Bristows, stresses that defining women's health solely by maternal outcomes obscures the true burden of chronic disease and violence, urging better data collection across all ages. Experts like Tiarney Ritchwood warn that without dedicated funding, increased awareness will not translate into clinical practice improvements.

Why it matters

The $20 billion plan aims to close the gender health gap by ensuring women are included in clinical trials and that their unique biological symptoms are recognized. This could reduce the 'diagnostic odyssey' women face, where conditions are misdiagnosed or delayed due to a lack of sex-specific data. Additionally, addressing these gaps may help reduce racial disparities in healthcare, as women of color have historically been excluded from research. Better data collection and clinician training could lead to more accurate diagnoses and treatments for conditions like cardiovascular disease and chronic pain.

What to watch

SWHR is pressing Congress to prioritize the $20 billion strategy and turn it into policy. The organization is raising awareness to ensure lawmakers support the funding proposal. Meanwhile, the scientific community is expected to expand research into non-reproductive health issues, such as menopause and chronic pain, as highlighted by the recent Science issue. The WHO and European regulators are also moving to require better sex-disaggregated data in clinical trials and regulatory submissions.