Bridging the gender gap in health research

By prioritising women’s health, we can create a future where health equity is a reality

As of 2023, there were 4 billion women in the world, accounting for approximately 49.75% of the population. Despite this, it is unfortunate that our approach to health and wellbeing has been shadowed by a deepseated gender bias. For far too long, women’s health has been confined to gynaecological and reproductive issues.

Moreover, the historical bias in medical research, favouring the male body as the standard, has resulted in dire consequences. Women face disproportionate risks in various health domains, from disability and obesity to cardiovascular health. Additionally, systemic biases in data collection perpetuate these disparities, leading to misdiagnoses, ineffective treatments, and unnecessary suffering. On this International Women’s Day, we must scrutinise the path towards gender parity, especially within healthcare.

The recently released World Economic Forum’s report, ‘Closing the Women’s Health Gap’, underscored the profound disparity between men’s and women’s health worldwide. It elucidated historical neglect in women’s health research, funding, and policymaking, and highlighted the need for a global effort to address the women’s health gap by urging governments, the private sector, and civil society to realign their strategies with a gendersensitive approach. A definitive, oftreiterated point is that by prioritising women’s health, we can create a future where health equity is a reality. Likewise, in India, several research studies have observed that many Indians have genetic variations that make them more susceptible to certain diseases. For example, Indians have higher levels of insulin resistance than Caucasians, which is a major reason for the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes in this population.

Therefore, regarding health research, to effect meaningful change, we must undertake concrete actions. First, we need to champion the analysis of gender differences in clinical trials. Going forward, it is imperative that all clinical trials diligently analyse and report genderspecific findings to tailor treatments effectively.