What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

34. Highlights the need to address the gendered social and commercial pressures that negatively affect girls’ and women’s body image and health; expresses concern about the growing influence of social media on perceptions of women’s health; calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote prevention strategies, including awareness-raising campaigns, including in schools, aimed at preventing eating disorders and fostering a healthy body image, self-esteem and informed health choices;

Digital health, medical devices, data and artificial intelligence

35. Highlights that medical devices play an increasingly central role in disease management and monitoring; underlines that insufficient consideration of physiological differences between sexes in the design, testing and validation of medical devices, including those used in sport, may result in differences in performance, accuracy and user experience; highlights that the development of medical devices in sport continues to be based on male anthropometric and biomechanical parameters, thereby undermining the efficacy and safety of such devices for women;

36. Calls for the systematic integration of sex- and gender-based analysis in the testing, authorisation, and monitoring of digital healthcare technologies, including AI-based diagnostic tools and machine learning systems, through the use of sex-disaggregated data and the meaningful involvement of women throughout the process; stresses that digital healthcare technologies must be developed and implemented in a manner that reflects gender-specific health needs, so as to prevent the replication or reinforcement of existing sex and gender biases;

Global health

37. Recognises the EU’s commitment to advancing gender equality globally, including through the EU’s Global Health Strategy; deplores the fact that the Union prevention, preparedness and response plan for health crises fails to adequately address the gendered aspects of preparedness and response; calls on the Commission and the Member States to integrate a sex- and gender-responsive and intersectional approach into all policies related to public health and to crisis preparedness and response;

38. Calls for the Commission and the Member States to prioritise access to gender-responsive and inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services as an essential component of women’s health under the EU Global Health Strategy; stresses that improving WASH in healthcare facilities is key to reducing preventable maternal and neonatal mortality and to ensuring safe childbirth and menstrual hygiene management;

Gender-specific conditions

42. Highlights that lesbian women are statistically less likely to access routine screening, often due to misconceptions or previous negative experiences with healthcare providers; underlines the need for tailored information to tackle misconceptions and ensure that lesbian women, transgender and gender-diverse people receive appropriate screening and preventive care, and, in the case of transgender people, gender-sensitive treatment; stresses that access to healthcare, including preventive care, should be based on health needs; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan is implemented through a strong gender lens; welcomes the Commission’s intention to issue guidance to financial undertakings on offering cancer patients fair access to financial services, but stresses the need for an EU-wide right to be forgotten for patients who have recovered from cancer, to prevent further discrimination in access to financial services, such as insurance and loans;

43. Highlights the fact that many cancer cases are preventable through behavioural and environmental changes, as well as early intervention measures to detect and prevent pre-cancerous changes; stresses that investing in preventive measures should be a priority for the EU; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strive towards ambitious targets of equal access to high-quality, publicly funded screening programmes for cancer across all EU countries, regardless of place of residence or socio-economic status; stresses the importance of comprehensive and gender-sensitive screening and/or vaccination programmes for breast cancer, cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer and lung cancer, which remain among the most common and preventable cancers in Europe, and for hepatitis B; calls for measures to target misinformation about the side effects of vaccines; encourages further investment in innovative diagnostic tools such as biomarker testing, and calls on the Commission to remove barriers to allow for the widespread use of these tools where appropriate, and to ensure equitable access to such tools;

44. Stresses that SRHR are fundamental human rights, which constitute a core component of women’s health and public health policy, and that ensuring universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare is a necessity for gender equality; stresses that concrete measures on SRHR are necessary for progress towards achieving the vision outlined in the Commission’s 2025 Roadmap for Women’s Rights, and for alignment with international human rights and the public health standards issued by the WHO and UNESCO; calls on the Commission to take action to advance the full spectrum of SRHR through all relevant EU policy areas and funding instruments, including the proposed European Competitiveness Fund;

45. Welcomes the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030, put forward by the Commission, and its commitment to supporting Member States’ healthcare actions regarding SRHR by mapping practices and international frameworks, by developing an EU framework and methodology for systematic data collection to improve the evidence base for SRHR, and by enhancing access to contraception; highlights the upcoming launch, in 2026, of the Sexual and Reproductive Health in Emergencies and Life in Dignity (SHIELD) initiative, which will aim to improve access to SRHR for victims of gender-based violence; calls on the Commission to include further policy and funding commitments, and data collection requirements, in the SHIELD initiative in order to support the Member States in advancing and safeguarding SRHR; is deeply concerned that women and girls with disabilities are far too often denied access to SRHR and stresses the need to safeguard physical integrity, freedom of choice and self-determination, with regard to the sexual and reproductive lives of persons with disabilities;

46. Stresses the need to improve the availability of, and access to, abortion throughout the EU; strongly supports the European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘My Voice, My Choice’, which aimed to set up a voluntary, solidarity-based, opt-in EU financial mechanism to ensure safe and accessible abortion in Europe; reiterates its call on the Commission to make full use of its competence in health policy to provide support to the Member States in guaranteeing universal access to SRHR, and to enshrine SRHR and the right to safe, legal and accessible abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

47. Welcomes the positive response from the Commission to the ‘My Voice My Choice’ European Citizens’ Initiative in its February 2026 communication, acknowledging that unsafe abortion is a matter of public health, and enabling Member States, via appropriate funding within the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) programme, to provide safe and legal abortion services, including by supporting travel and accommodation costs, to people who cannot access such services in their home country and, in general, for the most vulnerable persons, without interfering with national laws and regulations; recognises that this decision was aimed at reducing healthcare disparities and ensure that people in vulnerable positions have access to essential healthcare services; urgently calls on the Member States to use the ESF+ for this purpose; calls on the Commission to ensure that the use of funds for equal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is properly assessed in the programming and mid-term review of ESF+ operational programmes;

48. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the specific healthcare needs of LGBTIQ+ people, including by ensuring access to preventive care, treatment, and trans-specific healthcare, and to remove any coercive and unnecessary medical requirements, such as sterilisation, which hinder access to legal recognition and reproductive services, in line with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights; recognises the commitment from the Commission, in its LGBTIQ+ equality strategy 2026-2030, to facilitate exchanges of best practices between the Member States in this respect; encourages support for community-based healthcare initiatives and EU-funded research under EU4Health and the Horizon programme to ensure inclusive, equitable and safe healthcare for all LGBTIQ+ individuals; condemns conversion practices, such as practices aimed at changing, repressing or suppressing a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression, as violations of fundamental rights, and urges the Commission to tackle them through concrete actions; notes the Commission’s response to the European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘Ban on conversion practices in the European Union’, and urges the Commission to adopt a recommendation, without further delay, calling on the Member States to ban conversion practices;

49. Stresses the role of education, healthcare services and public institutions in preventing gender-based violence and promoting consent, bodily integrity, privacy, and personal autonomy and respect, and reducing gender inequalities; stresses that comprehensive, age-appropriate, science-based sexuality education, in line with UNESCO standards, is essential for promoting consent and SRHR, preventing gender-based violence, countering disinformation and stigma surrounding women’s health, and empowering individuals to make informed, autonomous choices; calls on the Commission to issue clear guidelines to the Member States on the provision of comprehensive age-appropriate sexuality and relationship education, in line with international standards;

50. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure universal access to affordable, safe and varied contraceptive methods; recognises that the contraceptive burden is – physically, financially and mentally – carried disproportionately by women; regrets the fact that, despite the unmet need for contraception globally, the EU has not funded the development of novel contraceptives since 2021; calls for increased investment in innovative research and development of globally applicable contraceptive technologies, including male contraceptives, with the aim of achieving greater gender equality and shared responsibility in family planning; stresses that women’s self-determination in choosing contraception must be fully respected, including their right to receive complete and comprehensible information on the benefits and potential risks and side effects of different contraceptive methods, enabling informed consent; encourages the Member States to effectively curb epidemics of STIs, by integrating HIV and STI prevention, testing and care into broader gender-sensitive healthcare strategies, as well as by removing barriers to testing and improving data collection on STIs;

51. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure access for all to affordable, high-quality, toxin-free and environmentally sustainable – particularly reusable – menstrual products; encourages the Member States to use taxation as a tool to make menstrual products more available and affordable for everyone, and to combat menstrual poverty by providing free or affordable access to menstrual products, information and adequate sanitary facilities, particularly in public places such as educational institutions, workplaces, public buildings and reception centres or shelters; stresses that inadequate education about menstruation can lead to unsafe menstrual care and, in turn, serious illness, further highlighting the need for funded public awareness campaigns on menstrual health to address stigma and confront stereotypes linked to menstrual health, alongside increased research into menstrual health conditions; stresses that continence care is a significant, yet often overlooked, aspect of public health, which disproportionately affects women; calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch public awareness campaigns to destigmatise continence health and to ensure that symptoms are not dismissed by patients or providers, and that patients are aware of treatments to cure incontinence, as well as treatments that can manage or improve it;

52. Urges the Member States to ensure that pregnant women have access to high-quality maternity healthcare services, regardless of where they live; calls for the development of common EU standards in maternal healthcare, and for strengthened cooperation and exchange of best practice among healthcare professionals in this field, with the objective of improving quality and ensuring that preventable maternal mortality is eliminated; highlights the need for EU-level initiatives specifically addressing postpartum depression and maternal mental health and well-being;

53. Recognises that fertility is a critical aspect of health and emphasises the need to proactively address the multifaceted factors of, and challenges related to, fertility; calls on the Member States to ensure high-quality, timely and equitable access to fertility and miscarriage-related healthcare, including infertility diagnosis and treatment, regardless of a woman’s economic situation or marital status, including for women with disabilities; stresses the need for evidence-based, reliable, public information on fertility that promotes a rights-based approach and supports reproductive autonomy; urges the Commission to provide support to the Member States through guidance, data collection and the exchange of best practice; stresses the importance of integrated mental health support and counselling to address the emotional and psychological impact of infertility and miscarriage;

54. Regrets the fact that, despite the prevalence of adverse, and serious, menopause and perimenopause symptoms among women, menopause is still not routinely integrated into primary healthcare, occupational health policies and workplace health strategies throughout all the Member States; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that menopause is recognised as a significant public health issue and fully integrated into routine primary healthcare services, with a view to supporting women’s long-term health and continued participation in the labour market; recalls that studies have shown that there is an estimated loss of EUR 9 billion to companies in Germany alone every year due to lack of treatment and support for women experiencing menopause symptoms; calls on the Member States to ensure timely access to menopause care, including through specialised services and clear clinical guidelines which give due consideration to hormonal life stages such as menstruation, pregnancy and menopause; recognises that the majority of available treatments are hormonal and, therefore, not suitable for all patients; highlights the need for the development of non-hormonal treatments alongside more effective and widely available hormonal treatments; notes that hormonal transitions can influence the onset, severity and management of other chronic conditions that disproportionately affect women, compared to men; highlights the fact that the majority of existing medical research focuses on the years of fertility, overlooking puberty, perimenopause and menopause, and that a more inclusive and representative approach to clinical trials is necessary;

55. Regrets that menopause remains shrouded in social stigma, and draws attention to the general lack of awareness of the symptoms of perimenopause; underlines the importance of training healthcare professionals on menopause management to provide consistent, evidence-based, and patient-centred support to women throughout the menopausal transition, as well as the need to empower women to recognise symptoms earlier and to seek appropriate care; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop EU-level guidelines on menopause and perimenopause care and awareness;

56. Deplores the fact that since the inception of the EU’s Community Research and Development Information Service almost 40 years ago, only 10 of the 145 983 EU-funded projects have focused specifically on endometriosis; underlines that women’s sexual and reproductive health can be adversely affected by untreated or late-diagnosed health conditions; stresses that timely access to prevention, diagnosis and treatment is essential to protect fertility, sexual health and overall well-being and to reduce avoidable long-term consequences; calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise endometriosis as a chronic condition and to promote its earlier diagnosis through improved training of primary healthcare professionals, clearer referral pathways and increased awareness among healthcare providers, and calls on the Commission to develop an EU-wide action plan on endometriosis;

57. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to integrate a gender perspective into diabetes research, diagnosis, treatment and management, as diabetes can affect men and women differently and therefore requires a gender-sensitive approach; calls for EU support for gender-responsive technologies and mental health integration to ensure personalised care and outcomes for women living with diabetes;

58. Highlights the fact that chronic inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic eczema, present differently by gender and at different stages in life, and disproportionately affect women; recognises that these conditions entail severe and persistent symptoms, such as pain and an unbearable itch, which significantly impair an individual’s quality of life, sleep and mental health; notes that hormonal changes make women more vulnerable to atopic dermatitis flares, especially during the premenstrual period and pregnancy, as well as to psoriasis during puberty and menopause; emphasises the need for training for healthcare professionals on such skin diseases, including on how symptoms and treatment needs may change across hormonal life stages; underscores that indoor tanning is a likely factor in the steeper rise in melanoma rates among younger women compared with men; urges the Commission to introduce measures to restrict and reduce indoor tanning consistently across the EU in order to stop the melanoma epidemic; stresses the need to strengthen consumer protection by regulating misleading or harmful beauty marketing practices and ensuring clear health warnings about risks to skin health linked to artificial UV exposure and certain cosmetic procedures;

59. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to address the gender-specific challenges of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in women; stresses the need for increased EU research and innovation to better understand why women are disproportionately affected, experience more pain and respond differently to treatments; encourages the Member States to develop and adopt multidisciplinary care models, with progress indicators, tailored to the needs of women with musculoskeletal disorders, to ensure they have equal access to advanced medical and surgical treatments for rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases;

60. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen gender-responsive policies in care for older persons, recognising that women represent the majority of older Europeans; calls for solutions that support accessible, affordable, high-quality and long-term care services that respect the dignity, autonomy and health of older women; encourages the sharing of best practices on gender-responsive treatment for older women, including preventive measures such as adequate nutrition and exercise, timely diagnosis and care for illnesses, and tailored approaches for women living in institutional settings and those with memory-disabling diseases who may struggle to express their needs, preferences and symptoms; stresses that there is a higher prevalence of memory-disabling diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, among women than men, primarily due to women’s longer average lifespans, but it is also evident among women and men of the same age;

65. Stresses that closing gender health gaps is first and foremost a matter of fundamental rights; considers, however, the improvement of gender equality overall, but notably in the area of health research, to be a competitive opportunity for the EU and a driver of productivity and long-term fiscal sustainability; highlights that the World Economic Forum estimates that closing investment gaps in women’s healthcare could boost the global economy by USD 1 trillion annually by 2040; points out that the gap in sex-specific health data constitutes a scarcity in the underlying basic science on gender-specific conditions, which constrains private-sector actors willing to invest in applied and development research; stresses that dedicating EU funding to addressing gender inequalities in health through the current and future Horizon Europe programmes, the European Competitiveness Fund and the current and future EU4Health programmes, coupled with measures to close the data gaps, could incentivise investment and boost innovation in the EU;

66. Calls for the Commission to develop and implement a specific women’s health strategy, embedded in the European Pillar of Social Rights at EU level, to be implemented across the Member States, with the aim of reducing gender health gaps, boosting public research into gender-specific conditions and guaranteeing equal access to healthcare across the EU; stresses that the strategy should include specific indicators and reporting requirements regarding progress; calls on the Commission to prioritise earmarked funding under the new European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe 2028-2034 (FP10) for research into women’s health; calls for dedicated, ring-fenced and traceable EU funding for women’s health, gender-specific conditions and sexual and reproductive healthcare, as well as for projects aiming to close sex- and gender-based data gaps; underscores the need for adequate funding because, on average, women face greater socio-economic constraints and are therefore more dependent on public healthcare and social services; highlights that the underfunding of care for gender-specific conditions can have negative impacts on Member States’ economies and workforce;

67. Emphasises the critical role of civil society organisations in providing needs-based, community-level and peer-to-peer healthcare services, particularly for women facing poverty, discrimination or social exclusion; stresses that these organisations act as a bridge between patients and public institutions, and also work to advance gender equality and SRHR, collect data on women’s health experiences and needs, prevent online health scams, and contribute to ensuring more gender-inclusive laws and policies in the field of healthcare; calls for their role to be explicitly acknowledged, in the upcoming European Competitiveness Fund and AgoraEU programme, through the earmarking of sufficient levels of funding for civil society organisations working on gender equality and SRHR in both programmes; expresses concern about the shrinking civic space and the decrease in funding available for civil society organisations working on women’s health and rights across the EU; strongly condemns the Commission’s decision to unexpectedly cut funding, including operating grants for health civil society organisations, in the EU4Health programme, and urges the Commission to immediately reinstate adequate funding for these health non-governmental organisations;

68. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote greater participation of women in all aspects of scientific research, both as researchers and as participants in research; recommends that measures be adopted to remove barriers to women’s career progression in science and to ensure equal opportunities in access to research funding and management positions; stresses that a more gender-balanced composition of research teams and greater participation of women in clinical trials will contribute to improving the quality and reliability of health outcomes;

°

° °

69. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.