The conversation around women’s health is gaining ground. The question is whether we stay in turf wars or run a relay. I choose the relay. Women’s health improves when the baton moves all the way from research to clinical care and into women’s everyday lives. That takes collaboration, not silos: industry, academia, healthcare, civil society and patients working together.
We often assume equality is a given. It isn’t. Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men, often during their most productive years. This holds women back economically and in leadership, and it holds society back. Closing the health gap is not a cost; it is a productivity reform on a billion-dollar scale. The World Economic Forum and McKinsey estimate up to USD 1 trillion in global potential by 2040. The real gain starts small: in every interaction, with every patient.
Sweden is no exception. Ambitions are high, but access to care and health outcomes remain uneven.
To me, a woman is never a “case”. She is the centre. Hormonal transitions across the life course influence risk for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, autoimmune conditions, migraine and more. Every girl born today is expected to live at least half her life post-menopause. The conclusion is clear: learn more, invest and share knowledge, evidence-based and centred on women’s needs.
Quality begins in research design. Include women and analyse sex-disaggregated data. Develop sex-aware precision medicine to improve accuracy in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Fund implementation and equity, and track real-world outcomes. Representation → Relevance → Results.
“A woman needs to be well to do well.”
We also need more women in leadership so decisions reflect the full population. And we must shift from seeing women’s health as only reproductive to also recognising productive health, with more years of healthy, functional life at work and in relationships. As Melinda French Gates says, “A woman needs to be well to do well.”
The good news is momentum. The Nordic collaboration Vision for Women’s Health 2040 shows how to build across borders, between professions, sectors and countries, with respect for different experiences and expertise. Guarding turf helps no one; it puts women in an impossible position. What we need is knowledge, clarity, evidence and guidelines, and a constant return to the core questions: How is a woman’s wellbeing in daily life? What needs to improve?
My contribution: breaking silos by working across boundaries, from global life science and clinical research to practising gynaecology at HerCare by CMedical, and through active roles in VILDA, Alexandra for Women & Health, RFSU and more. Connecting industry, academia, healthcare and civil society with the woman at the centre.
My call to action
- Listen to women.
- Break silos and run the relay.
- Let evidence and sex-disaggregated data guide decisions, grounded in women’s real-world experience.
My drive is simple: tangible results, fewer missed diagnoses, fewer unnecessary side effects and prevention that adds more years of good health. We have momentum. Women’s health is everyone’s health. Let’s run the relay #together.
Christina Östberg Lloyd, women’s health advocate
MD, Specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics.
