CLOSING THE WOMEN’S HEALTH GAP

In October, Women’s College Hospital Foundation partnered with McKinsey & Company to host an exclusive panel discussion and preview of McKinsey Health Institute’s new report, Closing the women’s health gap: Canada’s $37 billion opportunity. For over a century, Women’s College Hospital has been a trailblazer in closing the women’s health gap, and this new report highlights just how important this work is.

McKinsey’s report reveals a sobering statistic: Canadian women spend 24% more time in poor health compared to men – impacting their ability to be present at home, in their communities and the workplace. This gap is significant. McKinsey & Company estimate that closing the women’s health gap could add seven more healthy days of life per year for every Canadian woman. Beyond improving the lives of every Canadian woman, closing the gap also has the potential to boost the country’s economy by $37 billion annually by 2040. Let’s take a closer look at the findings.

Key insights:

• Canada ranks among the top ten countries globally for gender equality, yet it sits among the worst when it comes to the women’s-health-related economic gap.
• The potential economic impact of closing the women’s health gap in Canada ($37 billion) is estimated to be greater than the impact of scaling artificial intelligence for healthcare in the near term ($14 billion to $26 billion).
• Although people often associate women’s health with sexual and reproductive health, the report found that sexual and reproductive health and maternal, newborn and child health account for only 5 percent of the women’s health burden. Cancer, heart disease and brain disorders represent 75 percent of the women’s health burden in Canada.
• More than half of the top ten health conditions affecting Canadians affect women disproportionately or differently. Addressing the women’s health gap means acknowledging that their biology is different from men’s.
• There are three root causes of the women’s health gap: efficacy, care delivery and data.
• Almost two-thirds of the women’s health gap in Canada is caused by a gap in efficacy. For decades, medical research and clinical trials have focused on male biology, leading to misdiagnoses and undertreatment in women for cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental health care and more.
• Women are disproportionately affected by differences in access, quality and continuity of care. Women in rural areas, Indigenous groups, racialized communities and lower-income groups experience the worst care delivery gaps.
• Women’s health initiatives require better data. McKinsey & Company call for comprehensive, disaggregated and longitudinal data on women’s health.
• Canada has the health care infrastructure and economic capacity to close the women’s health gap and become a leader in women’s health.

McKinsey’s report acts as both a wake-up call and a roadmap to address the women’s health gap. Women’s College Hospital is leading the way in this revolution. Programs such as the Women’s Cardiovascular Health Initiative address the efficacy gap by providing gender-specialized care for women with cardiac conditions or those at high risk for heart disease. Women’s College Hospital’s Research and Innovation Institute addresses the data gap by leading innovative, high impact health research that changes practice, policy and lives. To improve the health of everyone in Canada – and gain billions in economic benefit – we must support and scale the kind of work WCH is doing.

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