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Melinda French Gates Expands Her Work in Women’s Health, Focusing on Key Moments That Shape Lives
Melinda French Gates today announced $215 million in funding to improve women’s health around the world, calling for greater urgency and resources in an area that remains dramatically underfunded despite its profound impact on families, communities, and economies. Her expanded efforts will continue her longtime work on contraceptive access and maternal care while broadening her focus to include midlife, including menopause.
Today’s announcement brings Melinda’s total philanthropic funding to women’s health to more than $600 million in the last two years. The new commitment is made through Pivotal, a group of organizations Melinda founded to accelerate social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world.
Addressing critical gaps in women’s health
Poor health remains one of the biggest barriers to unlocking women’s power.
Research shows that women experience higher rates of illness and disability than men throughout their lives and spend an average of nine years in poor health, many of them during the very years they are working and raising families. Yet for every dollar spent globally on medical research and innovation, just five cents goes toward women’s health.
"Too many women still go without clear answers and quality healthcare at the moments that shape their lives—from their reproductive years through menopause. When women get the right care at the right time, it changes everything, not just for them but for their families and entire societies. With greater focus and funding, we can stop asking women to simply live with poor health and start delivering the solutions they need."
Melinda’s approach focuses on two critical chapters in a woman’s life: the reproductive years and midlife, including menopause. The funding will support urgent needs, including protecting access to contraception, as well as long-term efforts to advance research and care for conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women.
Delivering impact through targeted giving
The funding approach is designed to reflect the unique role philanthropy can play in supporting both promising new ideas and longstanding gaps in women’s health. Melinda’s priorities for this new funding will include:
- Protecting care during the reproductive years: Safeguarding access to contraception so women can build the futures they want, reducing the deepest disparities in maternal health through stronger community-based care, and integrating mental health into maternal care so support is available when and where it’s needed most.
- Expanding focus on midlife and menopause: Catalyzing breakthroughs in under-studied conditions that affect women uniquely, differently, or disproportionately in midlife and raising the standard of menopause care so women can access high-quality, affordable, evidence-based solutions.
Through Pivotal Philanthropies, funds will support organizations working to strengthen women’s health systems and care delivery, including:
- $10 million to The Menopause Society to educate healthcare practitioners and expand outreach in areas where access to menopause care is most limited.
- $40 million to Co-Impact to support locally led organizations embedding mental health into maternal and primary care systems, with a focus on Africa.
Additional partners will be announced throughout the remainder of the year and into 2027.
“Menopause is a universal life stage, but quality care is not universally available,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of The Menopause Society. “With this funding, we can scale evidence-based training for front-line clinicians and extend our reach to areas where menopause care has long been overlooked. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring women receive the informed, compassionate care they need and deserve.”
"What makes this partnership powerful is a shared belief that lasting change comes from trusting local leaders, investing flexibly, and committing for the long term. Together with Pivotal, we can bring that approach to a critical and underfunded gap in women's health, supporting locally rooted organizations to integrate mental health into maternal and primary care," said Olivia Leland, Founder and CEO of Co Impact.
This funding includes a $50 million contribution through Pivotal Philanthropies to an initiative with Wellcome Leap, launched in fall 2025, that will accelerate women’s health research. The goal is to deliver breakthroughs in years, not decades. As part of this work, Wellcome Leap has announced VISIBLE, a new program aimed at transforming how we diagnose and treat women’s heart disease.
“Some of the biggest unanswered questions in women’s health sit in areas that have gone too long without serious scientific attention,” said Regina E. Dugan, CEO of Wellcome Leap. “Pivotal is treating those questions as urgent, solvable, and worth backing with serious ambition.”
Read Melinda’s op-ed in New York Times on menopause care and more on the announcement here.
About Pivotal
Founded by Melinda French Gates in 2015, Pivotal is a group of organizations working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world. We use philanthropy, investments, advocacy, and partnerships to drive momentum where we see the biggest opportunities for impact. Pivotal includes Pivotal Philanthropies, Pivotal Initiatives Fund, and Pivotal Ventures.
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