A global ambition. A healthier future.
Transforming the health of women and babies – from discovery to impact.
For 50 years, the Women and Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) has worked to improve the health of Australia’s women and babies through world-leading research, innovation and clinical translation.
Today, we are building on decades of research and an expanding network of global partnerships with universities and hospitals in Japan, Singapore and Chile, to create Australia’s first integrated, cross-sector institute dedicated to women’s and babies’ health.
The WIRF Global Institute for Women and Babies will bring together world-leading scientists, clinicians, universities, hospitals and industry to rapidly solve some of the most urgent health challenges facing women and babies – here in Australia and around the world.
The Institute will position Australia as a global hub for discovery and innovation, and will focus on three connected areas:
- Healthy pregnancy and maternal health: improving pregnancy outcomes and preventing complications.
- Women’s health across the life course: advancing research into conditions including endometriosis, gynaecological cancers, reproductive disease and women’s health inequities.
- Baby and early life health: improving outcomes for newborns and understanding how early development shapes lifelong health.
The Global Institute will begin as a national and international research network, with a permanent innovation centre to follow.
A proven foundation for the future
WIRF has already demonstrated what is possible. Our preterm birth prevention work contributed to a 10% reduction in preterm and early births nationally, helping prevent around 4,000 babies from being born too early each year. Preterm birth prevention initiatives have also delivered an estimated $140 million in annual savings across healthcare and education.
The Global Institute will take this proven model of collaboration and impact to the next level.
An urgent global challenge
Across the world, women and babies face health challenges that remain underreported, under-researched and inadequately addressed.
Women spend 25 per cent more of their lives in poor health than men. The McKinsey Health Institute and the World Economic Forum estimate that closing the women’s health gap could contribute at least US$1 trillion annually to the global economy by 2040. Around 13.4 million babies are born preterm worldwide each year, and conditions such as endometriosis, gynaecological cancers and perinatal mental health disorders affect millions of women.
These challenges are connected. Preterm birth, pregnancy complications, reproductive disease, cancer, mental health and chronic disease can intersect across a woman’s life and influence the health of the next generation.
We need a new global approach – one that brings together the very best research minds and infrastructure with industry and the community to accelerate the pace of discovery and convert knowledge into better health for women and babies.
Building for the next 50 years
WIRF is now working with government, philanthropic and corporate partners to build the Global Institute through a new founding partners program.
Be part of what comes next.
With the right investment, Australia can become a global leader in women’s and babies’ health – attracting talent, accelerating discovery, creating new technologies and transforming healthcare.
Join WIRF in building the Global Institute for Women & Babies.
Together, we can change the future for generations to come.
Invest in the Global Institute for Women and Babies
Contact us today:
Deb Portughes OAM
Phone: 0411 844 181
