US Women's Health Strategy Calls for $20B Federal Investment

A new 10-year national strategy is calling for a $20 billion federal investment to address persistent gaps in women’s health research, care and access in the United States. The National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap was launched on July 15, 2026, by the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), and the Women First Research Coalition.

Women make up more than half of the US population, yet significant gaps remain in how women’s health conditions are researched, diagnosed and treated. The new strategy aims to improve women’s health outcomes by strengthening research, expanding the healthcare workforce, improving data collection and increasing public awareness.

The proposed $20 billion investment would be divided across five priority areas. Research and innovation would receive $7 billion, while another $7 billion would support the healthcare workforce. Data infrastructure would receive $4 billion, followed by $1 billion for regulatory coordination and $1 billion for public awareness.

The plan follows the last year of the budget crisis, during which the level of funding for women's health research was a continuing worry. Ahead of that, the US Department of Health and Human Services was mulling cutting funding for regional centers of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), leaving researchers and women's health advocates to worry. This was overturned later.

Key Highlights:

• The US proposes a $20 billion investment to strengthen women’s health research and care over 10 years
• The strategy aims to address gaps in women’s health research, healthcare and diagnosis
• The plan builds on existing initiatives to improve women’s health outcomes across the US

The WHI, which started in 1991, is the biggest women's health study ever conducted in the United States. It comprises 40 clinical centers and has enrolled over 161,000 women, aged 50 to 79. Its research has impacted medical treatment and public health policies around the world.

The research effort of the initiative has also been a great influence, especially in the area of hormone therapy. The strategy estimated it would avert 126,000 cases of breast cancer and 76,000 cases of cardiovascular disease over 10 years in a hormone therapy trial and save over $35 billion in medical spending.

Women are underrepresented in some areas of clinical research, although progress is being made. This is especially true of the studies of cardiovascular. Of 706 trials reviewed, women made up just one quarter of study patients. Participation by women has been improving, but the percentage of women in a large number of these trials is still less than 50% of participants.

Lack of representative research may also impact diagnosis and treatment. Women's symptoms of heart disease could be ignored or overlooked and blamed on stress, anxiety, weight gain or other causes, experts say. This can lead to a delay in diagnosis and treatment, especially in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

The new strategy is designed to build on such initiatives as the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, which mandated that women be represented in federally-sponsored clinical research. But advocates assert that huge gaps still exist 30 years later.

The National Strategy to Close the Women's Health Gap Is a groundbreaking effort to improve coordination of research, healthcare and regulatory systems, and to fill longstanding gaps in data and the healthcare workforce.

“This strategy offers Congress a roadmap to improve health outcomes, drive innovation, and build a healthier future for women, families, and communities,” said Kathryn Schubert, MPP, CAE, SWHR president and CEO.

Now the proposed investment will have to gain the support and funding of the congress. The strategy is expected to help create a long-term plan to ensure women's health is a top priority for research and care in the United States.