Melinda French Gates launches $250 million initiative for women's health

Women’s health worldwide is facing alarming neglect, with rising ‘maternity care deserts’, surging maternal deaths, and millions denied access to abortions, warns Melinda French Gates, co-founder of the charitable foundation Gates Foundation. In response, she has launched a $250 million global initiative aimed at improving women’s physical and mental health, reported The Guardian.

Despite significant medical advances, glaring disparities in women’s healthcare persist. French Gates highlighted that women, regardless of their country’s wealth, are living longer in poor health and still face major obstacles in accessing even basic healthcare. She emphasised the stark reality: more than 700 women die from childbirth every day.

This healthcare crisis extends to the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade in 2022, leaving countless women without access to essential reproductive healthcare. French Gates underscored the importance of the upcoming US elections, describing them as a pivotal moment for women’s rights and family wellbeing. "There is so much at stake for women and families," she told The Guardian.
 

Today, French Gates is launching the Action for Women’s Health initiative through her organisation, Pivotal, directing $250 million in grants to global organisations tackling these urgent issues.

“To fully exercise power over their lives, women need to be mentally and physically healthy. And yet, women’s health is being neglected everywhere,” said philanthropist French Gates.

“More than one billion women and girls suffer from malnutrition. Reproductive healthcare is being denied in the US and other countries. And globally, a woman dies in childbirth every two minutes," she said.

She added, “This is unacceptable, but there is reason for hope. Organisations around the world are taking innovative approaches to addressing these challenges, and this open call is about getting them the resources they need to scale up and reach as many people as possible.”

The initiative invites women’s health-focused organisations, regardless of geography or size, to apply for grants of up to $5 million. This comes just months after French Gates stepped away from the Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her former husband, Bill Gates, over two decades ago.

This $250 million pledge is part of a broader $1 billion commitment from French Gates over the next two years to support individuals and organisations fighting for women and families globally. It is her second major billion-dollar pledge in recent years, following a 2019 commitment to empower women worldwide.

While the global state of women’s health and reproductive rights is dire, French Gates emphasised the unique weight of the upcoming US election.  “There is so much at stake for women and families in this election, and we need a leader who will fight for women’s rights, especially their access to reproductive care,” she said. French Gates has publicly endorsed US Vice President Kamala Harris, stressing the importance of safeguarding reproductive rights.

“With Roe overturned, women have been denied emergency care, maternal mortality rates have continued to rise, and maternity care deserts are becoming more common,” she said. “Of course, these challenges aren’t limited to the US – women in low- and middle-income countries have long struggled to access quality care.”

“No matter where you are in the world, women’s health is foundational to the health of a broader society. There are so many amazing organisations working to improve women’s health, and this call is about getting them the funding they need and making sure women everywhere can access the care they deserve,” she added.

French Gates aims to use this $250 million initiative to provide historically underfunded organisations with access to critical financial support. Eligible projects must have a proven track record in improving women’s mental or physical health and be ready to expand their impact to benefit even more women.

Managed by Lever for Change, a nonprofit affiliate of the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, Action for Women’s Health is designed to reach community-driven organisations with deep experience in women’s health issues. Cecilia Conrad, chief executive of Lever for Change, said, “With this new open call, we hope to reach even more outstanding organisations in communities that have not had access to this kind of funding. Action for Women’s Health will lift up community-informed groups around the world with deep lived experience of the issues they work on.”