Contribute to a healthier future for women
Our StoryWomen spend 25% less of their lives in good health than men. Not because they live longer or because their bodies are more complex, but simply because research and innovation have been systematically underfunded.
NORA mobilizes funding for women’s health research. You can contribute.
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Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, but we still don’t know what causes it.
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Women are up to 50% more likely than men to die within a year of a heart attack - because of research gaps and care biases.
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Menopause affects most women, but long-term health effects remain under-researched despite growing evidence linking it to Alzheimers.
For decades, women’s health research has been underfunded
When Need Isn’t Enough: Biases in Research Funding
In a perfect world, the extent to which research is funded would closely correlate with disease burden - how many people are affected and how severe the condition is, or put in other words, how much it costs society. But in reality, funding priorities are also influenced by longstanding norms and historical biases in how different health needs are valued.
Scientific gaps
Across women’s health, research has continuously been underfunded relative to disease burden, resulting in significant gaps in data and scientific understanding across both female-specific conditions and those that affect women differently or disproportionately (McKinsey Health Institute, 2024).
These knowledge gaps have downstream consequences. They limit innovation and increase risk for investors further along the pipeline. Only around 7% of biopharma R&D is invested in women’s health, and just ~1% when excluding cancer (BMJ, 2025). When conditions are poorly understood, underdiagnosed, or lack robust datasets, it becomes significantly harder to develop effective solutions, validate outcomes, and attract capital at scale.
Funding structures
In addition, existing funding structures are often siloed by specific diagnoses or medical specialties, even though evidence consistently shows the need for more cross-sector and interdisciplinary approaches as women's health conditions are often interconnected across the life course (WHO, 2021; Nature Medicine, 2023; The Lancet, 2022).
To enable more preventive, lifecycle-based care, research cannot continue to happen in isolated silos. There is a clear need for more longitudinal datasets and integrated research frameworks that reflect how health evolves over time, rather than focusing narrowly on single conditions in isolation. The fact that this type of research is often more resource-intensive further underscores the need for new funding models.
Join a community driving change in women’s health!
NORA identifies the research that matters most and makes it easy for anyone to contribute. Together - we don’t just raise funding - we build the momentum needed to accelerate change. NORA was founded in early 2026, and we are currently establishing a Nordic scientific committee to identify and select high-impact research projects.
Our research focus
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Areas where the gap between disease burden and funding is greatest.
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Research enabling early detection, risk factors, and a life-cycle perspective on women’s health.
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Or targeting structural gaps, such as limitations in data collection and availability.
Our mission
To shift women’s health from a fragmented, underfunded field into a data-rich, investable sector capable of delivering both health equity and economic return.
Would you like us to reach out when new research studies are ready for funding?
Or when we gather the community to learn more about what’s going on in women’s health.
Women spend 25% less of their lives in good health than men. Not because they live longer or because their bodies are more complex, but simply because research and innovation have been systematically underfunded.
NORA mobilizes funding for women’s health research. You can contribute.
Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, but we still don’t know what causes it.
Women are up to 50% more likely than men to die within a year of a heart attack - because of research gaps and care biases.
Menopause affects most women, but long-term health effects remain under-researched despite growing evidence linking it to Alzheimers.
Join a community driving change in women’s health!
NORA identifies the research that matters most and makes it easy for anyone to contribute. Together - we don’t just raise funding - we build the momentum needed to accelerate change.
NORA was founded in early 2026, and we are currently establishing a Nordic scientific committee to identify and select high-impact research projects.
For decades, women’s health research has been underfunded
-
In a perfect world, the extent to which research is funded would closely correlate with disease burden - how many people are affected and how severe the condition is, or put in other words, how much it costs society.
But in reality, funding priorities are also influenced by longstanding norms and historical biases in how different health needs are valued.
Across women’s health, research has continuously been underfunded relative to disease burden, resulting in significant gaps in data and scientific understanding across both female-specific conditions and those that affect women differently or disproportionately (McKinsey Health Institute, 2024).
These knowledge gaps have downstream consequences. They limit innovation and increase risk for investors further along the pipeline. Only around 7% of biopharma R&D is invested in women’s health, and just ~1% when excluding cancer (BMJ, 2025). When conditions are poorly understood, underdiagnosed, or lack robust datasets, it becomes significantly harder to develop effective solutions, validate outcomes, and attract capital at scale.
In addition, existing funding structures are often siloed by specific diagnoses or medical specialties, even though evidence consistently shows the need for more cross-sector and interdisciplinary approaches as women's health conditions are often interconnected across the life course (WHO, 2021; Nature Medicine, 2023; The Lancet, 2022).
To enable more preventive, lifecycle-based care, research cannot continue to happen in isolated silos. There is a clear need for more longitudinal datasets and integrated research frameworks that reflect how health evolves over time, rather than focusing narrowly on single conditions in isolation. The fact that this type of research is often more resource-intensive further underscores the need for new funding models.