‘What About Men?’ Activist Asks Bill Gates After $2.5bn Donation For Women’s Health

Prominent men’s mental health advocate, Halima Layeni has asked the Gates Foundation to consider funding men’s health efforts and not limit its interventions to women.

Layeni made the call after the foundation, the world’s largest by endowment size, announced a $2.5 billion commitment to fund ‘ignored, underfunded’ women’s health.

She described the move as “truly commendable”.

The Executive Director of Life After Abuse Foundation added that it was a bold and necessary move to address systemic health inequities for women globally.

“But here’s a critical question: Can we extend the same intentionality to men’s health?” she queried.

Layeni explained that men face alarming health outcomes globally, including accounting for over 70 percent of all suicide deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

She further stated that men have a shorter life expectancy by five to seven years compared to women.

Layeni stressed that preventable diseases, heart disease, diabetes and substance abuse disproportionately affect men, who are far less likely to seek help or access care.

“Just like women, men’s health issues have been ignored and underfunded for decades, largely because of cultural stigma and the assumption that ‘men are fine.’ The truth? They’re not,” she said.

Layeni harped on the need for men’s health to receive attention, emphasising that families are more stable and women carry fewer economic and emotional burdens when men live healthier lives.

According to her, strong male health reduces domestic violence, abandonment, and poverty cycles, which disproportionately affect women.

“Healthy men mean healthier families, communities, and economies.

“If we care about breaking cycles of poverty, improving global productivity, and fostering family well-being, we cannot afford to leave men behind in health conversations.

“Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, what would it look like to pioneer a parallel movement for men’s health, alongside your vital work for women?

“The world needs it,” she said.