What you probably already know: Women make up nearly half the world’s population, yet only 6% of private health care investment goes toward women’s health. The World Economic Forum’s Women’s Health Investment Outlook 2026 analyzed thousands of private-sector transactions from 2020 through 2025, finding that companies focused exclusively on women’s health attract less than 1% of funding. Nearly 90% of the money invested goes toward just three areas: reproductive health, maternal care and women’s cancer, meaning conditions that affect millions of women remain largely overlooked. Endometriosis, menopause and PMOS, for example, receive less than 2% of all funding.
Why it matters: That’s where Lisa Marceau comes in. Marceau, who has spent her career in clinical research and product development, is the founder of Alpha Millennial Health and digital health company Joyuus. She notes that closing the women’s health gap could add $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040, yet women account for only one-third of participants in cardiovascular clinical trials. She argues that the male-default model fails women first and, eventually, everyone. Diagnose women accurately and the entire system becomes sharper. The numbers are even more shocking considering that women drive roughly 80% of all U.S. health care decisions.
What it means: “Some of our early work was 20 years ago, and we’re still diagnosing and treating based on the same model. That’s what really has to change,” says Marceau, who founded Alpha Millennial Health in 2022 because she observed a disconnect between research and real-world care. “It’s astounding.” How medical professionals treat cardiovascular disease in women is particularly concerning. It’s been known for at least two decades that cardiovascular disease presents differently in women than in men, though two-thirds of clinical research on heart disease and stroke has focused on men. “The problem is that’s not how the model works for diagnosis,” Marceau says. “Women get sent home. We’re diagnosed with depression or anxiety.”
What happens next: The World Economic Forum identifies substantial opportunity in several areas besides cardiovascular disease, including osteoporosis, menopause and Alzheimer’s. Addressing these and other underfunded areas could unlock more than $100 billion in market opportunity in the next four years alone. “Women's health is not a niche market,” Marceau says. “That’s a really important point. It’s one of the largest untapped opportunities that’s going to transform how we understand human health. It’s imperative that we do that.” Adds Trish Stroman, managing director and senior partner of Boston Consulting Group, an author of the study: “Momentum is building. Investors are increasingly recognizing that women’s health is an undercapitalized growth frontier.”
Tomorrow: How Lisa Marceau is working to improve the health care system for women.
