Although women generally outlive men by about 4.5 years, they experience 25 percent more time in poor health. The main reasons for this discrepancy? Disparities in treatment efficacy, data, and care delivery, say senior partner Lucy Pérez and colleagues. In analyzing 22 types of interventions across the globe and for various diseases and conditions, inequities in efficacy and care delivery of the top five interventions contribute to 57 percent of the women’s health gap.
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A voronoi circle diagram shows various segments that make up 100% of the global women’s health gap in intervention efficacy and care delivery. It is measured in millions of disability-adjusted life years, which is defined as years of healthy life lost and is calculated as the sum of years lost due to premature death and years lived with disability. The 3 major components to this gap are: innovations, 15.3 million DALYs or ~22%; basic primary care, 7.3 million DALYs or ~10%; screening, surveillance, and testing, 5.8 million DALYs or ~8%; surgery and highly specialized procedures, 5.9 million DALYs or ~8%; and pharmacological: cardiovascular and diabetes medicines, 5.2 million DALYs or ~7%. These 5 interventions alone comprise >50% of the total.
Source: Eurostat; ILOSTAT; 2019 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, used with permission, all rights reserved; National Transfer; OECD; Oxford Economics; GDP data: World Development Indicators, World Bank; McKinsey Health Institute analysis.
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To view the interactive, see “Bridging the women’s health gap: A country-level exploration,” May 2024.