While Deepika Padukone recently became India’s ambassador for mental health, another actress has made history by speaking about health on the world stage.
Kriti Sanon became the first Indian actress to speak at the 2025 World Health Summit in Berlin. At the high-level session titled “Women’s Health Global Wealth: Catalysing Returns on Bold Investments,” she spoke about how women’s health remains underfunded despite women making up half the world’s population.
Kriti stressed that women’s health is not a side issue but the foundation of progress, prosperity, and humanity’s future. To drive her point home, she shared a compelling figure for every USD 300 million invested in women’s health, the return can reach USD 13 billion, nearly a nine-fold gain.
“Investing in women’s health is not just a moral duty; it’s a strategic investment in our collective future,” Kriti said. She added that when women are healthy, families, communities, and economies thrive. She urged global leaders to move beyond data and take bold, decisive action.
Quoting the principle “Nothing about her, without her,” Kriti called for women to be part of decision-making processes that affect their health and bodies.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), diseases affecting men receive twice the funding compared to those affecting women in the U.S. In 2020, only 1% of health research funding (excluding oncology) went toward women’s health. The gap, Kriti suggested, is likely even wider in India.
She also pointed out that most medicines are still developed and tested primarily on men, which often ignores how treatments impact women differently.
By addressing this global imbalance, Kriti Sanon has not only made history but also used her platform to raise awareness about the urgent need for gender equity in healthcare.
