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Women's Health 2040
“We're not asking for better health standards for women — we're designing them.”
— Nordic Charter for Women's Health 2040
136+
Researchers, clinicians, policymakers, patient representatives, and innovation leaders who participated in the participatory strategic foresight process across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden that produced the Charter. Methodology peer-reviewed in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health (January 2026).
5
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The Charter is an open commons framework for pan-Nordic coordination; national and regional actors within each country adopt activities within their own mandates.
USD 30–50B
Annual Nordic GDP opportunity by 2040 from closing the women’s health gap — combining productivity gains, healthcare cost reductions, and women’s health innovation market capture. Directional estimate. See methodology for sources and provenance.
3+4+1
Three domains where women’s health is transformed (Research, Care, Innovation), crossed with four pillars of enabling infrastructure (People, Money, Policy, Data), underpinned by one cultural foundation (Awareness). Convergent finding: five independent expert groups identified the same four pillars.
Nordic Intelligence Brief
Week of 11 May — 18 May 2026
PCOS is being formally renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) — a Lancet global consensus with Oulu's Terhi Piltonen among the co-authors. The rename lands the same week as a Nordic population study linking the condition to a 32% higher heart disease risk, repositioning PMOS/PCOS as multisystem chronic disease. Finland updates its national Current Care guideline on miscarriage, and Sweden prepares the Medical Products Agency for its EHDS digital health role.
About the Initiative
The Nordic Charter for Women's Health 2040 is a coordination framework developed through participatory strategic foresight with 136+ contributors across five Nordic countries. It positions women's health as economic opportunity — USD 30–50 billion in potential gains — not a cost burden. Published in The Lancet and developed with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, the Charter enables voluntary alignment across research, care, and innovation without prescribing a single route.
How It Was Built
The Charter initiative was co-led by Julia Persson and Jeanette Kæseler Mortensen, with participatory foresight methodology developed in collaboration with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies and Nordic Women's Health Hub. Over 136 contributors from healthcare, research, policy, and innovation across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden shaped the framework.
The Charter was co-created at the Danish Parliament in September and launched in December 2025 at the Embassy of Finland in Copenhagen, co-hosted by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Watch the launch
From Charter to Action
The Implementation Playbook publishes 28 May 2026 at BLOX, Copenhagen, on the International Day of Action for Women's Health — mapping Charter activities to existing Nordic and European initiatives. Published as an open commons (CC BY 4.0) in partnership with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. Ambassadors across the Nordics are carrying the framework into their institutions and networks.
The Women's Health 2040 Framework
Three operational domains. Four infrastructure pillars. One cultural foundation. Independently validated by five expert groups.
Founding Architect
Julia Persson
Founder and CEO of Scita Health, a Danish precision prevention platform for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, and a participating organisation in the WHO/Europe Public Health Innovation Platform. Serves on the EU advisory board for myHealth@myHands. 20+ years of digital transformation experience at Accenture, Swedbank, AWS, and Maersk.
Founding Ambassadors
Five leaders who shaped and champion the Charter across the Nordic region.
Aura Pyykönen
Independent
🇫🇮 Finland
Christina Lloyd
Care & Communication
🇸🇪 Sweden
Daria Krivonos
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
🇩🇰 Denmark
Hilde Færevik
Innovasjon Norge
🇳🇴 Norway
Kristina Gemzell Danielsson
Karolinska Institutet
🇸🇪 Sweden
Peer-Reviewed Research
Published in The Lancet
Designing from 2040: vision-led architecture for women's health
Julia Persson · Kristina Gemzell Danielsson · Daria Krivonos
The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women's Health