The Equalizer Challenge: Scaling Women’s Health Innovations
Women make up half the world’s population, yet sexual and reproductive health, maternal care and other health needs specific to women are critically underfunded and underdeveloped.
“Every minute, at least two women die globally from breast or cervical cancer or pregnancy-related complications due to inequitable access to healthcare,” says Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. This stark reality underscores the urgent need for scalable, high-impact health solutions that reach underserved communities and close the health gap for women worldwide.
Every day, nearly 800 women die due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth1. Around half a million women die from cervical cancer and half a million from breast cancer each year, according to the World Health Organization, with the vast majority of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries where screening, prevention and treatment are almost non-existent.2
Despite the severity of these issues, only 1 per cent of global healthcare research and innovation funding addresses female-specific conditions beyond oncology. Even more alarming, only 0.2 per cent of research and development funding focuses on sexual and reproductive health in developing countries, despite its critical role in determining lifelong well-being3. Gender biases persist in technology and healthcare design, reinforcing the need for inclusive, impactful solutions.
We need more innovations to close the gap.
To that end, UNFPA, in collaboration with MIT Solve, IE University and Women of Wearables, is launching The Equalizer Challenge: Scaling Women’s Health Innovations – an innovation challenge designed to provide catalytic, equity-free funding while empowering innovators to amplify their impact and scale up transformative solutions for women’s health. The Equalizer Challenge is enabled by the generous support from the Governments of Germany and Luxembourg to the UNFPA Equalizer Accelerator Fund.
Challenge objectives
Through this challenge, UNFPA aims to:
Identify and support scalable innovations in women’s health.
Empower women-led enterprises addressing critical health conditions.
Strengthen the women’s health innovation ecosystem.
Provide equity-free funding, mentorship and capacity-building to women entrepreneurs to ensure positioning to scale up.
Advance gender equity in technology and innovation, increasing access to funding and networking opportunities.
Read more via the UNFPA website.