When we include the perspectives and experiences of women, everyone benefits. The work of inspiring leaders like this health champion in Ethiopia and this doctor in Kenya. However, too often women are still excluded from accessing quality healthcare, education, and economic opportunities.
Dr. Anita Zaidi is one person who brings stories of women’s health to life, and I always learn so much when I speak with her. She is president of the Gates Foundation’s Gender Equality Division. Anita is a physician and public health expert—and a champion for women’s health and economic opportunity.
Anita, tell me about how you came to this work?
My background is as a pediatrician and research scientist. I have worked in communities where women had little access which often came at the cost of theirs or their children’s lives. There are so many compounding factors that prevent women from living healthy and productive lives.
I’ve seen how small but meaningful changes can transform lives. In Rehri Goth, a community outside Karachi, Pakistan one in ten children used to die before the age of five—not because solutions didn’t exist, but because women couldn’t access the care they needed. By improving maternal health services, providing skilled birth attendants, and ensuring women had access to proper nutrition, we saw a dramatic drop in maternal and child mortality. This reaffirmed what I’ve always believed: when we invest in women’s health, we uplift entire communities.
This is why gender equality in healthcare is so important. It’s not just about building hospitals or offering treatments; it’s about understanding the realities of women’s lives and breaking down the barriers that prevent them from getting care. When we design healthcare systems that center women’s needs—offering integrated services, removing unnecessary hurdles, and empowering them to make their own choices—we don’t just improve health outcomes, we create opportunities for women, families, and communities to thrive.
What is something about the foundation’s gender equality work that might surprise people—perhaps a challenge that no one talks about or an unexpected breakthrough?
We know this is not a novel philosophy, but women’s healthcare has long been approached in isolated siloes from a global health and development perspective—one program for maternal health, another for financial literacy, another for reproductive care—without recognizing that these issues are all deeply connected. This is not a groundbreaking idea. But I do see the growing recognition that women’s health and economic opportunity are not just social issues. When we invest in women’s health, we are really investing in economic progress for all. A woman’s life is not a set of disconnected needs; it’s a whole, interwoven experience.
What action is being taken to bring that idea into practice?
Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men, limiting their opportunities and holding back economic growth. Research now shows that closing gender health gaps could add $1 trillion to the global economy every year.
This shift in thinking is leading to real action. The Global Alliance for Women’s Health is bringing together governments, businesses, and health organizations to push for greater investment in women’s healthcare. New tools like the Women’s Health Impact Tracking Platform will help measure progress and ensure that efforts lead to meaningful change.
There are also major opportunities to improve women’s health:
- Cervical cancer: Vaccination and prevention efforts could save 600,000 lives annually.
- Maternal health: Addressing postpartum hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders could drastically reduce preventable maternal deaths.
- Endometriosis: Affects 1 in 10 women; yet remains underdiagnosed and underfunded—improving treatment could change millions of lives.
But the work doesn’t stop there. To truly make progress, we need better data that reflects the full reality of women’s lives, not just individual diseases. New research initiatives, like Project Pathways, are helping governments design more effective, holistic policies by looking at real-world factors that impact women’s health, such as mobility, education, and economic independence.
"The message is clear: when we invest in women’s health, we’re investing in stronger families, stronger economies, and a better future for everyone."
We have a clear roadmap for progress, and by working together—governments, businesses, researchers, and advocates—we can build a future where every woman has the resources, care, and opportunities she needs to thrive.
You’ve described yourself as a relentless optimist. When faced with the harsh realities for so many women and girls worldwide, what keeps your optimism from wavering?
I’ll admit that this year, it has felt particularly difficult to celebrate progress, given the harsh realities women and girls are facing around the world. The toll on their lives is heartbreaking.
Yet, when I look at history—even my own family’s story—I see how much change is possible, often in just a couple of generations. My grandmother never had the chance to attend school, but she fought to ensure that my mother did. And today, both my mother and I are physicians. That kind of transformation reminds me that progress is not only possible, but inevitable when we stay committed.
I’ve also seen firsthand how rapidly change can happen. When I was training as a pediatric infectious disease fellow in the mid-1990s, we had no effective treatment for HIV/AIDS. I spent my days caring for severely ill mothers and children. But in just one year, with the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, everything changed. Children who would have been hospitalized were now growing, thriving, and going to school. What once seemed impossible became reality—because of innovation, activism, and collective action.
That’s what fuels my optimism. Change happens when people come together—advocates, scientists, policymakers, and communities—all working toward a common goal. Every morning, I ask myself, “What can I do today to help women and girls around the world?” And every night, I reflect on what I’ve done. If millions of us commit to that mindset, progress will not stall. In our lifetime, we can and will see a better world for women and girls. That belief keeps me going.
GPP provides a way for donors to give confidently to projects vetted by experts like you and members of your team. Can you share what possibilities those donations are unlocking alongside your team’s investments?
These funds can help in so many ways. They can be deployed to make sure women giving birth are doing so with skilled personnel and the medicines and supplies they need are available to deliver safely and their babies can survive and grow. Essential medicines such as to prevent and treat hemorrhage or severe anemia. They can be used to prevent and treat malnutrition in mothers and babies, or they can be used to make sure if a baby is born too soon and has breathing difficulties, then simple equipment such as CPAP is available to provide temporary support while the baby learns to breathe on their own.
The bottom line is that additional funding is giving our partners the flexibility to meet the needs of the moment.
