Kearney unveils Women’s Health Healthcare and Life Sciences Index

LONDON — The health of women reflects the health of society. Guided by that belief, global management consultancy Kearney, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Think Tank, has released the [w]Health Healthcare and Life Sciences Index: From awareness to accountability in women’s health, which establishes the first cross-sector baseline for women’s health by tracking how gender response practices are embedded across value chains. It thereby aims to redefine advancement of women’s health by providing transparency, accountability, and a road map for measurable progress.

Initially launched at Davos in 2024, the [w]Health Index assesses organizations across six levers of change: public health, medical education, research and development, care delivery, investment, and data. This year’s report focuses on data from hundreds of organizations, analyzing and ranking the performance of pharma, MedTech, consumer health, payors, providers, and investment players.

“The [w]Health Index is a practical framework for accountability and progress across sectors,” notes Dr. Nigina Muntean, Chief, Innovation and Transformation Branch of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). “Through the Equity 2030 Alliance, we were proud to co-design the Index as an ongoing measurement tool to track progress over time and build a shared evidence base to inform action and investments. The inequities in women’s health are no longer invisible. What is needed now is a sustained commitment by leaders to make women’s health a global priority, which will drive resilience and shared prosperity.”

The report assesses the level of maturity each sector has achieved in progressing toward women’s health, and urges organizations to make progress through six levers for change:

• Shaping the public health agenda through increased advocacy and awareness
• Overhauling medical education by expanding curriculums to better cover women’s health
• Retuning R&D by increasing clinical and policy research trials on women’s health conditions
• Building women-centric integrated care pathways that are accessible and easy to navigate
• Ensuring responsible use of gender-specific data sets across the healthcare ecosystem
• Boosting investment in academic research, product R&D, and consumer health solutions

“We designed the Index to help move the needle on awareness and advocacy of women’s health, but integration into systems and strategy remains incomplete,” says report lead author Paula Bellostas Muguerza, a Kearney partner and Global Lead of the firm’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice. “Consumer health leads the other sectors in women’s health, with 55 percent of companies in mature stages. While that is impressive, there’s still a long way to go, especially considering the lag in investor maturity at just 30 percent. Fewer than 25 percent of funds apply a gender-lens strategy during investment due diligence, and only one in seven incorporate gender considerations into value creation and portfolio management. Worse yet, women represent less than 20 percent of investors, perpetuating blind spots in decision-making.”

The [w]Health Healthcare and Life Sciences Index: From awareness to accountability in women’s health calls companies and organizations to action, including:

• Embedding gender into operations
• Strengthening data and accountability
• Scaling equitable access

“Decades of underinvestment, inadequate awareness, and systemic bias have left women more likely to experience misdiagnosis, dismissal of symptoms, and poorer long-term outcomes than men,” notes Mary Stutts, CEO of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. “As women comprise half the global population, live longer (albeit with less healthy years), and shoulder the majority of family care, it stands to reason that addressing their overlooked health needs extends beyond a public health imperative to directly affecting businesses and economies. Rethinking and redesigning women’s health is a necessity for organizations and investors, not only from an ethical standpoint, but as a financial imperative.”

Other findings from the Index include:

• Across the ecosystem, just 38 percent of organizations have reached mature stages of action.
• Larger players show stronger performance; regional variation remains limited.
• Consumer health companies are furthest ahead, followed by MedTech, then pharma.
• Pharma and MedTech show progress in policy and education, but lag in women-centric care and inclusive research.
• Providers and payors lag in equitable benefit design and reimbursement models.
• Investors remain the least mature with only 30 percent of organizations in advanced stages.

Read the full [w]Health Healthcare and Life Sciences Index: From awareness to accountability in women’s health report here.