Melinda French Gates commits to advancing Women’s health programs.

Melinda French Gates is a billionaire philanthropist and founder of Pivotal since 2001. Three years after divorce from Bill Gates, French Gates resigned from the Bill and Melinda Foundation and took $12.5 billion as her share. In less than five month post her separation, she decided to spend $1 billion of her money to improve the health of girls and women.

Melinda French Gates believes that women’s health is being neglected as abortions are denied and more than 700 women die everyday during child birth.  Despite latest advancements in medicine, women still go through “unacceptable” treatments and live with illnesses throughout their life.

Melinda French Gates said, “Women have also been suffering with global consequences of the abortion bans enacted in US after the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022. The US elections next month would be critical. There is so much at stake for women and families.’

On Wednesday she launched Action for Women’s health through her organisation Pivotal. She has granted $250 million and inviting groups across the world to come and apply $5 million each to help women. She said that the $250 million she is pledging to advance women’s health formed a quarter of a $1 billion donation commitment over the next two years to individuals and organisations working on behalf of women and families across the globe.

French Gates said, “To fully exercise the power over their lives, women need to be mentally and physically healthy. And yet, women’s health is being neglected everywhere. More than 1 billion women and girls suffer from malnutrition. Reproductive healthcare is being denied in US and other countries. And globally, a woman dies in childbirth every two minutes.”

“This is unacceptable, but there is reason for hope. Organisations around the world are taking innovative approaches to addressing these challenges, and this open call is about getting them the resources they need to scale up and reach as many people as possible. There is so much at stake for women and families in this election, and we need a leader who will fight for women’s rights, especially their access to reproductive care.” She added.

“With Roe overturned, women have been denied emergency care, maternal mortality rates have continued to rise, and maternity care deserts are becoming more common. Of course, these challenges aren’t limited to US – women in low and middle income countries have long struggled to access quality care,” French Gates added.

She also said, “No matter where you are in the world, women’s health is foundational to the health of a broader society. There are so many amazing organisations working to improve women’s health, and this call is about getting them the funding they need and making sure women everywhere can access the care they deserve.”

Cecilia Conrad, the chief executive officer of Lever for Change said, “With this new open call, we hope to reach even more outstanding organisations in communities that have not had access to this kind of funding. Action for Women’s Health will lift up community-informed groups around the world with deep lived experience of the issues they work on.”