Global efforts to improve the health of women and girls have, in the past few decades, largely focused on reducing unacceptably high levels of maternal mortality and morbidity. In large part because of these successful efforts, the global burden of disease has changed significantly in recent years, such that the leading causes of death and disability for women in almost all countries in the world are now non-communicable diseases.

A global agenda for women’s health must, therefore, have a broadened, redefined focus to encompass not only women’s sexual and reproductive health, but also the leading causes of death and disability for women.

This policy paper makes a number of recommendations for the UK government, research funding bodies both here and globally, for major global bodies such as the World Health Organisation and the UN, for NGOs and for academic and health researchers.