Experts warn of research funding gaps in women’s health across Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 3 — African research institutions have been challenged to accelerate the development of affordable women’s health products and technologies, as experts warn that persistent funding and research gaps are leaving millions of women with poorly addressed medical conditions.

The World Health Organization’s Head of Contraception and Fertility Care, Prof. James Kiarie, said African universities and research institutions must move beyond producing academic publications to developing products, services and strategies that respond to the continent’s healthcare needs.

Speaking virtually at the Leadership for Innovation and Excellence in Accelerating Research on Women’s Health (LEA-WH) Fellowship Women’s Health Ecosystem Forum in Nairobi, Kiarie said many conditions affecting women, including endometriosis, menstrual disorders, menopause and sexually transmitted infections, continue to receive inadequate research attention and investment.

He warned that many medical products are designed for high-resource settings and often fail to address the realities of African health systems, particularly in rural and primary healthcare facilities.

“Innovators must therefore design around constraints in primary healthcare delivery points, community distribution and low-resource environments from day one,” Kiarie said.

He called for stronger technology transfer offices, innovation hubs and research venture funding to help bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and products that can reach patients.

Kiarie also urged African governments to strengthen regulatory systems and harmonise product approval processes to accelerate access to innovations while maintaining safety standards.

He said women’s health must be understood beyond maternal survival to include reproductive health, fertility care, non-communicable diseases, mental wellbeing and healthy ageing.

A similar concern was raised by Gates Foundation Deputy Director of Diagnostics, Dr Maike Scharp, who said women’s health research has suffered from a cycle of neglect driven by inadequate funding, limited clinical data and weak commercial investment.

Scharp said women live with poor health for 25 per cent more of their lives than men, while medicines are 3.5 times more likely to be withdrawn for safety reasons in women compared with men.

Scharp said the gaps were partly linked to the historical underrepresentation of women in medical research and clinical trials, leaving critical differences in how diseases affect women poorly understood.

“For far too long society has normalized women’s suffering instead of solving it,” she said, quoting former Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda Gates.

She cited endometriosis as an example of the disparity in research investment, noting that while the condition affects approximately one in 10 women globally, its drug development pipeline had about 20 assets, compared with approximately 580 for diabetes, which affects a similar proportion of adults.

She said the gaps present an opportunity for researchers, innovators and investors to develop solutions for conditions that have historically received little attention.

The Gates Foundation, she added, has committed $2.5 billion to advancing women’s health innovation, with much of the funding directed towards research and development, including obstetric care, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, gynaecology and menstrual health.

The forum is being held under the LEA-WH Fellowship, a three-year initiative established by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in partnership with the United States National Academy of Medicine, with support from the Gates Foundation.

KEMRI Board Chairman Dr Abdullahi Ali said the programme was designed to strengthen African scientific leadership and institutional capacity to address women’s health challenges through research and innovation.

The inaugural cohort comprises 20 fellows drawn from 11 African countries, with the programme targeting up to 60 fellows over three years.

The fellowship has two pathways: research leadership, which focuses on generating evidence to inform policy and practice, and product development and innovation, aimed at creating practical solutions to unmet health needs.

KEMRI Acting Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer Prof. Elijah Songok said the programme’s ambition was to move women’s health research beyond identifying problems to developing affordable and accessible solutions.

He said the initiative targets advancing between five and 10 women’s health products towards market testing, supporting up to 10 start-ups and generating new patent applications.

“Our conviction remains that research must do more than generate publications; it must improve lives,” Songok said, calling for sustained investment and collaboration to turn research into solutions that reach communities.

LEA-WH Programme Director Prof. Elizabeth Bukusi said the need for stronger research was evident in the continued loss of women to preventable conditions, including complications linked to undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted infections.

She said the consequences of losing women extend beyond individual families, underscoring the need to prioritise research that addresses women’s health challenges across their lives.

The four-day forum, running from November 2 to 5, brings together researchers, mentors, policymakers and development partners to strengthen collaboration and advance investment in Africa’s women’s health research and innovation ecosystem.

​Bruhan Makong is a Senior News Reporter for Capital FM in Nairobi, covering diplomacy, foreign policy, national security, climate, and human rights across East Africa and the wider region.