Melinda French Gates is committing another $215 million to improve women's health, expanding her global giving through her philanthropic group Pivotal.

The new funding pushes her total support for women's health to more than $600 million over the past two years, as announced on Thursday, People reported.

French Gates said women's health is at the center of her mission and includes care for mothers, access to contraception, and new research for women in midlife, including menopause and perimenopause.

"It's just blaringly obvious that women's health is fundamental — she has to be well to do well in life," French Gates said in an interview.

Since leaving the Gates Foundation in 2024, which she co-founded with Bill Gates, French Gates has focused more directly on women's health through Pivotal, the organization she created to guide her philanthropy. She has said this gives her more control over where money goes and how quickly it can respond to urgent needs.

French Gates: Women's Health Must Not Be 'Invisible'

Melinda also pointed out that women's health has long been underfunded. The World Economic Forum says only about 2% of private health research funding goes to conditions that affect women. She said these gaps are why private giving is needed to push research forward and bring more attention to women-specific conditions.

According to TheHill, this round of funding includes $40 million for Co-Impact to support mental health services in maternal and primary care in Africa, and $10 million for The Menopause Society to improve training for doctors and expand care in the United States.

Experts say about 6,000 U.S. counties have very limited access to menopause-trained doctors, showing gaps in care that the new funding aims to address.

"The role of philanthropy, in my opinion, is to look at some of these societal problems that have been left behind, and shine light on them." She said the goal is to attract more donors and government support to women's health research.

Dr. Stephanie Faubion of The Menopause Society said the funding will help improve training and expand access to care in thousands of US counties where patients lack menopause specialists.

"Menopause remains one of the most overlooked and underserved areas in medicine," she said.

French Gates said her goal is simple. "I don't want women's health issues to be invisible," she said. "I want them to be seen and addressed so women can live better lives."

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