达·弗兰奇·盖茨透露，健康问题正迫使女性退出劳动力市场，并限制她们充分参与公共生活的能力。为此，她正通过自己创立的Pivotal组织加大对相关研究与护理工作的投入。
Health problems are pushing women out of the workforce and limiting their ability to participate fully in public life, according to Melinda French Gates, who is stepping up investment in research and care through her organization Pivotal.
盖洛普与Pivotal联合开展的最新调查显示，超过40%的英国女性表示健康状况阻碍了她们实现自己的愿望；34%的女性则称健康问题妨碍了她们在职场上发挥潜力。在经历过更年期或围绝经期的女性中，58%的人表示这一生理阶段至少在某方面对她们的生活或工作产生了负面影响。
New Gallup-Pivotal research found more than four in 10 UK women said their health had prevented them from doing everything they wanted, while 34% said it kept them from reaching their potential at work. Among women who have experienced menopause or perimenopause, 58% said it had negatively affected their life or work in at least one way.
“全球范围内，女性健康领域的进展都严重滞后，”Pivotal的创始人弗兰奇·盖茨周五在伦敦接受彭博电视采访时说道。
“We are way behind on women’s health across the world,” French Gates, who founded Pivotal, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in London on Friday.
她指出，我们需要开展更多研究并获取更详实的数据，才能促使各国政府将女性健康问题列为重点，并将资金投入到能产生最大成效的领域。
More research and better data are needed to persuade governments to prioritize the issue and direct funding to where it can have the greatest impact, she said.
“衡量指标至关重要，”弗兰奇·盖茨强调，“我们应在四五年后再次进行评估，看看女性能否更顺利地获得所需治疗。”她认为，政府在资助相关研究方面肩负重要责任；医疗体系则需加大预防投入，并消除那些导致女性症状被忽视的偏见。
“Measuring matters,” French Gates said. “Let’s come back and measure this in four or five years” to see whether women are better able to find treatments. Governments have a particularly important role in funding research, while health systems need to invest more in prevention and tackle biases that can result in women’s symptoms being dismissed, she said.
由于围绝经期与更年期往往发生在女性事业发展的黄金时期，由此引发的经济后果尤为严重。弗兰奇·盖茨提到，许多女性不得不请假，甚至辗转求诊于多位医生以缓解症状。健康问题甚至可能成为“阻碍她们实现梦想的绊脚石”。目前，她已承诺通过Pivotal投入2.15亿美元用于女性健康事业；她同时指出，社会偏见仍是主要障碍，尤其是针对更年期的刻板印象。
The economic consequences can be particularly acute because perimenopause and menopause often affect women just as they are reaching the peak of their careers. Women report taking time off work and seeing multiple doctors to get symptoms addressed, French Gates said. Health problems can become “an off-ramp to their dreams.”French Gates, who has committed $215 million in new funding for women’s health through Pivotal, said stigma remains an obstacle, particularly around menopause.
“是时候正视这个问题了，”她呼吁道，“现在就应当加大投入。”这一需求并不仅限于富裕国家。
“It is time we look at this issue,” she said. “Let’s invest in it though now.”The need extends beyond wealthy countries.
在非洲，弗伦奇·盖茨表示，她的工作带给她的最重要的启示就是：当女性能够自主安排生育时间并拥有健康的生活状态时，“她们就能茁壮成长，她们身边的每一个人也能随之受益。”
In Africa, French Gates said one of the most important lessons from her work has been that when women can “time and space the births of their children” and can lead healthy lives, “they flourish, and everyone around them flourishes.”