A Crowdsourced Topic Map and Future Research Agenda for Women’s Health

Paper by Stefaan Verhulst, Roshni Singh, Marta Dell’Aquila, Leonie Kunze, and Cosima Lenz: “Women’s health research remains under-resourced, underprioritized, and narrowly defined. Across the life course, women experience distinct health needs with significant implications for health and wellbeing, yet persistent gaps in evidence and data continue to reinforce inequities. In the absence of a universally accepted definition of women’s health, this study aimed to develop a topic map to capture its breadth and to identify an evidence-informed set of the top ten priority questions to guide future women’s health research and innovation.
Methods: We used a participatory, iterative methodology inspired by the 100 Questions Initiative, combining structured stakeholder engagement, rapid evidence synthesis, and iterative validation. An initial topic map was developed through an in-person workshop and refined through ongoing engagement with 77 global experts in women’s health and data science. Guided by the topic map, experts submitted research questions via a virtual survey, which were refined, clustered, prioritized, and ranked.
Results: The topic map served as a shared framework to guide the submission of actionable research questions and comprised four branches: (1) key domains of women’s health; (2) determinants and barriers; (3) technology and innovation; and (4) research and evidence gaps. A total of 113 questions were submitted, clustered into 56 themes, and narrowed to a top ten through expert prioritization, followed by public ranking via a virtual survey that yielded 115 responses. The highest-ranked questions focused on reframing and prioritizing women’s health, strengthening investment and innovation ecosystems, and addressing evidence gaps, research participation, data quality, and equity.
Conclusion: This study presents a comprehensive topic map that captures the complexity and cross-sectoral nature of women’s health and provides a unifying framework for the field. The prioritized questions offer a strategic foundation to guide future global research, policy, and investment to advance women’s health innovation…(More)”.