Women's Health Index -

Themis’ Women’s Health System and Strategy Index is the First European comparative index dedicated to women’s health. Its purpose is to identify policy best practices, gaps, and drive accountability across European countries.

CONTEXT

Women’s health strategies exist across Europe, but without common measurement frameworks, comparable indicators, measurable targets, or accountability mechanisms, political commitment remains impossible to verify. The Thémis Women’s Health Index is designed to fill that gap.

PHASE 1 – WHITE PAPER

READ THE FULL WHITE PAPER HERE NOW

In partnership with Robin Vergouwen, associate researcher at Thémis and researcher at Harvard University, Thémis conducted a comparison of national women’s health strategies across 5 EU/EEA countries: Austria, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The paper was written in three phases from February to May 2026. The analysis maps 4 categories in each strategy: health conditions covered, system levers targeted, governance, and use of data.

A consistent 1-3 scale was applied across all elements and countries for the health conditions, in which

1 – not or barely addressed
2 – mentioned, with limited action
3 – explicit focus, concrete action (with slight framing modifications for each category)

Three Key Findings

1. No Measured Objectives

None of the 5 strategies sets quantified targets for health outcomes.
Ambitions are framed directionally (improve, reduce, strengthen) with no success indicators or accountability mechanisms.

2. Uneven Prioritisation

Endometriosis, reproductive and gynaecological health, and maternal health receive the strongest and most consistent attention.
Cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of female mortality in Europe accounting for more deaths than all cancers combined, scores 1 or 2 in every strategy analysed.
Neurological and autoimmune conditions are also underrepresented.

3. No Common Framework

Each country has defined its own priorities and monitoring mechanisms independently.
Without a shared reference point, cross-country comparison is impossible and collective accountability remains limited.

Robin Vergouwen – Harvard Researcher & Associate Researcher for Thémis

Robin Vergouwen is a public health professional working at the frontier of women’s health, technology, and healthcare transformation. She is completing a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as a Fulbright scholar, where she focused on health management and was part of the founding team of the inaugural Women’s Health Student Summit.

Before her studies in the U.S., Robin spent almost four years as a strategy consultant at Strategy&, where she worked with leading healthcare providers on complex digital and value-based healthcare transformations. Earlier, she built an AI-driven surgical video analysis tool at Incision and partnered with hospitals, research institutes, and technology companies to bring it into clinical practice. Her work focuses on strengthening health systems to improve accessibility, affordability, quality, and equity.

Robin holds a Master’s in Artificial Intelligence from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a Bachelor in Liberal Arts and Sciences from University College Utrecht.

PHASE 2 – PERSPECTIVES

We envision two possible extensions of this project

Geographic Extension – Apply the same methodology to all EU member states, with annual updates for ongoing tracking of governments’ political ambition on women’s health.
Thematic Deepening – Vertical analyses focused on specific conditions currently underrepresented in national strategies, such as cardiovascular, menopause or a focus on the 1000-day plans.

NEXT STEPS

Recommendations

National Governments should establish measurable health outcome targets

A small number of time-bound, quantified goals per strategic priority would represent a fundamental shift from the current pattern.
Governments revising existing strategies – such as Austria – have an immediate opportunity to do so.

European institutions should consider a common reporting framework for women’s health, building on the State of Health in the EU cycle.

Cross-country comparison using a consistent framework is feasible, as the analysis demonstrates.

Financing

Thémis’ partners and funders are invited to invest in the next phase. The present analysis provides a proof of concept for the policy ambition layer.

Phase 2 requires a health outcomes dashboard and the institutional infrastructure to regularly publish, update, and communicate findings. A blueprint for a well-designed national women’s health strategy, drawing on each country’s best practices, should also be developed.

If you’re interested in funding the future of women’s health through phase 2 of the Index, contact Thémis to discuss further at contact@wearethemis.org