Q&A: Three women leaders at PATH on shaping the future of women’s health

At PATH, we’re working to advance women’s health as a key driver of global health equity. We develop health solutions with women in mind and help strengthen primary care systems to better serve women’s needs.

Our approach combines innovative design strategies with strong partnerships to develop and deliver health services and products designed by and for women and girls. We focus on the full spectrum of health needs throughout women’s lives—from reproductive and maternal health to gender-specific conditions and the unique ways common diseases affect women.

Our goal is to support women and girls throughout their lives, helping to improve health outcomes in communities around the world.

Kammerle Schneider, Chief Global Health Programs Officer:

What stands out to me is the gap in funding for the research and development (R&D) and health systems improvements needed to address women’s health needs. In both spaces—R&D and health systems strengthening—women’s voices and needs are all too rarely considered. Closing the gender health gap requires increased investment in women’s health research and gender-responsive health systems.

First, medical research often focuses on male physiology, leading to treatments that work best for male bodies. Heart disease is a clear example: we know there are sex differences in risk factors and disease progression, but we have too little research involving women—particularly women of color—to optimize prevention and treatment. On top of this, there’s a dearth of research on female-specific conditions like endometriosis, resulting in delayed diagnoses and inadequate treatment options.

Even when the diagnostics, drugs, and medical devices to protect women’s health exist, they fail to reach women due to profound underinvestment in primary health care systems in low- and middle-income countries. Complications during childbirth remain a leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in many parts of the world because women have limited access to essential services like family planning and maternal health care adapted to their needs.

Kammerle Schneider, Chief Global Health Programs Officer:

PATH focuses on a few key strategies:

1. End-to-end product development. We take health innovations from concept to scale, ensuring they’re accessible, affordable, and tailored to women’s needs. Our goal is to create solutions that make a real difference in women’s lives, like improving access to reproductive health options.
2. Human-centered design. We involve women and girls throughout the development process, creating solutions that are not only clinically effective but also culturally appropriate and user-friendly. This approach ensures that health technologies for reproductive health, maternal care, and disease prevention truly respond to women’s lived experiences, increasing adoption and sustained use.
3. Strengthening primary health care. We work to enhance health care systems to better serve women and girls. This involves improving provider skills, optimizing supply chains, and integrating comprehensive health services. By partnering with governments and local organizations, we build resilient health systems that deliver high-quality, gender-sensitive care, especially in resource-limited settings.

Through these strategies, we aim to ensure that health interventions are sustainable, scalable, and specifically adapted to address the challenges faced by women and girls.

Melanie Saville, Chief Scientific Officer:

PATH has contributed to several significant innovations in women’s health products through various collaborations and partnerships. To make pregnancy and childbirth safer, we contributed to R&D for new technologies to screen women for preeclampsia and manage postpartum hemorrhage too. We also developed the BD Uniject™ injection system that enables women to self-administer subcutaneous injectable contraception (DMPA-SC). We’ve played a key role in generating and sharing evidence, guidance, and tools to support the introduction and scale-up of DMPA-SC, which is now registered in 75 countries. This innovation has expanded women’s family planning options and become one of the most widely used methods of contraception in many places, including rural settings where women have limited access to health facilities.

For 30 years, PATH has been at the forefront of accelerating the innovations needed to end cervical cancer—both through primary prevention (preventing the onset of the disease) and secondary prevention (detecting and addressing the disease early to prevent it from worsening). We advance human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for adolescent girls by working with manufacturers to develop affordable vaccines, generating evidence for optimal HPV vaccination schedules, and supporting countries to develop the policies and plans needed to deliver this lifesaving vaccine—including through the game-changing single-dose schedule.

These innovations, developed through collaborative efforts with various partners, have the potential to significantly improve women’s health outcomes. By addressing maternal health challenges, expanding access to contraception, and enhancing cervical cancer prevention, we’re working toward closing the gender health gap and improving women’s overall well-being.

Melanie Saville, Chief Scientific Officer:

We recognize that developing innovations is only part of the solution—ensuring these reach women who need them most is equally crucial. Our approach to scaling up and commercializing products involves a multifaceted strategy. We collaborate with local manufacturers and governments to build sustainable supply chains and distribution networks. This helps ensure products are available, affordable, and acceptable to local communities.

Evidence generation plays a key role in our product delivery efforts. We conduct rigorous studies to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of innovations in real-world settings. These data inform policy decisions and help gain support from health authorities and funders.

Advocacy is another important component of our strategy. We engage with policymakers, health care providers, and community leaders to build awareness and support for new health solutions. By combining evidence-based advocacy with strategic partnerships, we aim to create an enabling environment for the adoption and integration of innovations into existing health systems.

Ultimately, our goal is to create sustainable pathways for product delivery that can continue long after PATH’s direct involvement ends. This approach helps ensure that lifesaving and life-improving innovations reach the women who need them most, contributing to better health outcomes and greater health equity globally.

Nanthalile Mugala, Chief of the Africa Region:

We take a holistic approach to meeting women’s health needs throughout different stages of life in Africa. We’re particularly focused on maternal health, working to ensure safer pregnancies and deliveries by promoting maternal immunization and comprehensive antenatal care, which includes screening for sexually transmitted infections and other diseases.

We’re also committed to expanding access to family planning options. For instance, in Zambia, we collaborated with mothers to improve the integration of postpartum family planning with childhood immunization services. Additionally, we advocate for policies that allow community health workers and pharmacy staff to offer a wider range of contraceptive options, making it easier for women to access these choices close to home.

Beyond maternal health, we address communicable diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as noncommunicable diseases that are crucial to women’s health and well-being, such as mental health, diabetes, hypertension, and women’s cancers. Our efforts are supported by strong advocacy for integrated, person-centered primary health care systems, ensuring that women receive comprehensive care that addresses their diverse health needs from adolescence through to older adulthood.

Nanthalile Mugala, Chief of the Africa Region:

We’ve made significant strides in improving women’s health outcomes across Africa through strong partnerships and collaborative efforts. The Injectables Access Collaborative, led by PATH, has expanded contraceptive options in 11 African countries, empowering women to make informed reproductive health choices.

In Tanzania, our work with the local health system on maternal immunization has contributed to reducing tetanus cases among newborns. In Senegal, our partnerships have supported HPV screening and treatment programs, potentially saving lives from cervical cancer. In Kenya, our advocacy efforts played a key role in the inclusion of the HPV vaccine in the national immunization program.

Digital health is another area where we’ve made significant progress. By leveraging technology, we’re improving access to care, particularly for women in remote areas. For instance, the electronic Community Health Information System in Kenya, supported by PATH, is revolutionizing disease detection and treatment, especially for conditions like malaria, which disproportionately affect pregnant women.

These achievements underscore the power of partnership in driving sustainable improvements in women’s health across Africa. We’re grateful for the collective efforts of local health workers, communities, and governments, recognizing that progress is a shared achievement.

Improving women’s health has profound ripple effects, strengthening families, communities, and entire economies. Healthier women lead to stronger workforces and more resilient communities, driving global prosperity.

Every action counts—whether it’s raising awareness, advocating for policies, or supporting local health programs. Together, we can ensure all women and girls have access to the health services they need.

PATH is committed to this vital work, continuously learning and adapting to achieve sustainable improvements in women’s health. This shared effort has the power to create a healthier, more equitable world for everyone.