Philanthropist Melinda French Gates will expand her giving to improve women’s health globally, pledging another $215 million to support contraceptive access and maternal care, as well as initiatives aimed at middle‑aged women, including further study of menopause.
The new funding announced Thursday pushes French Gates’ donations for women’s health over $600 million in the past two years.
French Gates told The Associated Press in an interview that women’s health is the cornerstone of the work she does through Pivotal, the group of organizations she founded to handle her philanthropy and investments.
She noted her purpose is clear: “It’s just blaringly obvious that women’s health is fundamental – she has to be well to do well in life.”
Since 2024, when she stepped away from The Gates Foundation, which she co‑founded with her former husband, Melinda French Gates has honed her approach to supporting women.
Her latest round of funding reflects a highly targeted strategy toward under‑funded areas. It includes a $40 million donation to Co‑Impact for an initiative that embeds mental‑health support into maternal and primary care, especially in Africa, and a $10 million donation to the Menopause Society to improve menopause care in the United States by educating health‑care practitioners and expanding outreach in regions where care is limited.
According to the World Economic Forum, even though women make up half the population, issues that specifically affect them receive only 2 % of private healthcare funds. The lack of funding has led to a dearth of products and services tailored to women’s health.
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the Menopause Society and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health, said the United Kingdom currently has about 6,000 counties where patients have critically low access to menopause‑competent clinicians. The donation will allow the Menopause Society to offer its educational resources to more areas of the country that need them.
“Menopause remains one of the most overlooked and underserved areas in medicine, and The Menopause Society believes women deserve better,” Faubion stated. “We’re ready to make those changes with the support of donors like Pivotal.”
She also emphasized that research into menopause treatments was already underfunded before the recent medical research cuts made by the Trump administration went into effect.
Faubion added that philanthropy will take an even larger role: “I think philanthropy is going to fill a greater role than it ever has in the past because we are just not going to have the same type of government funding that we’ve had before.” She concluded, “Funding is hard to come by these days – much, much harder than it was before. And the need hasn’t gotten away. We still have to do the research somehow.”
She found the substantial size of French Gates’ gift important, but the attention it brings may be even more crucial.
“It shows that somebody like Melinda Gates and Pivotal feel that this is an important issue,” Faubion said. “It will illuminate the gaps that are still there… and it makes people not only aware, but maybe motivated to take some action.”
For French Gates, bringing more attention to women’s issues is nearly as important as increasing the funding for them.
“I want women’s health issues to not be invisible,” she said. “I don’t want the default to be that women are expected to deal with pain and suffering. I want them to be seen for what they’re going through, their real life experiences, and have those issues addressed so they can live their very best lives.”
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