opinion: canada has a blueprint for women’s health—now it’s time to act

more than 25 years ago, canada laid out a national vision for improving women’s health.

health canada’s 1999 women’s health strategyrecognized that women’s health extends well beyond reproductive care. it called for better evidence, policies responsive to sex and gender differences, effective health services and collaboration across sectors. it was an important step, and remains the most recent broad federal strategy dedicated to women’s health.

canada has made meaningful progress since then. researchers have strengthened our understanding of women’s health. advocates have brought overlooked conditions and experiences into public discussion. health-care organizations, governments, non-profits and private-sector partners are investing in new approaches to research, education, innovation and care. yet significant gaps remain.

recent research from the mckinsey health institutefound that canadian women spend 24 per cent more of their lives in poor health than men. closing that gap could give every canadian woman approximately seven additional healthy days each year and contribute an estimated $37 billion annually to canada’s economy by 2040.

the gaps also challenge us to think differently about what we mean by “women’s health.” it is not only reproductive health. cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental, neurological and substance-use disorders account for approximately 75 per cent of the identified women’s health gaps in canada. at the same time, conditions that disproportionately or uniquely affect women, including chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis, as well as symptoms associated with menopause and the mid-life transition, can have significant and lasting effects on women’s well-being yet are often under-recognized and under-addressed.

taken together, these gaps point to a broader challenge: access to the right information, care and support is not consistent for all women. we see both the progress and the work still ahead from different vantage points. women’s health collective canadaworks to mobilize funding and support for women’s health research, bring organizations and experts together around shared priorities, and help turn evidence into better information and care. at bd-canada, we see the role that health innovation and collaboration can play in supporting better care. those perspectives lead us to the same conclusion: the next phase of progress cannot happen in silos.

canada needs a more coordinated approach.

that coordination must extend beyond the organizations that already see women’s health as part of their mandate. employers shape women’s experiences at work. investors and philanthropists influence which ideas and areas of research receive support. life sciences and technology companies help determine which innovations reach patients. researchers, health-care professionals, advocates and governments influence how evidence becomes policy and practice. women’s health is shaped far beyond the clinic, and closing the gaps will require a broader circle of institutions to see themselves as part of the solution.

earlier this year, women’s health collective canada released a blueprint for actionwith knowledge partner mckinsey & company canada. it identifies opportunities to improve sex- and gender-disaggregated data and research, strengthen sex-specific care and equitable access, increase investment in research and innovation, and give women better information and support to manage their health.

these priorities reinforce how interconnected the challenge is. better data can deepen our understanding of how conditions affect women, but evidence must translate into policy and clinical practice. innovation can open new possibilities for prevention, diagnosis and care, but promising ideas need pathways to adoption. greater awareness can help women advocate for their health, but it must be matched with access to appropriate care and support.

no single organization and no single sector can accomplish all of that.

a more coordinated approach means governments, healthcare professionals, researchers, advocates, non-profits, industry, employers, investors and philanthropists working toward shared priorities. it means aligning investment with the areas of greatest need, creating clearer pathways from research and innovation to implementation, and building mechanisms to scale successful approaches across provinces. it means sharing what works, rather than addressing similar challenges separately. and it means measuring and reporting on outcomes and making progress visible to the public, so we know whether increased attention and investment are translating into better health.

it must also recognize that women do not experience the health system in the same way. geography, race, ethnicity, income and other factors can affect both health outcomes and access to care. a national approach must be coordinated enough to establish common priorities while remaining flexible enough to respond to the realities of different communities.

canada does not need to start over. more than 25 years after articulating a national vision for women’s health, we have decades of advocacy and policy work to build on, world-class research and expertise, knowledge grounded in lived experience and growing momentum across sectors. the opportunity now is to connect these efforts through continued leadership, stronger coordination and shared accountability, creating clearer pathways to turn what we know into action and deliver measurable improvements in women’s health.

amy flood is executive director of the women’s health collective canada. ivy parks is president of bd-canada.