Table 2 Initial recommendations, barriers or risk factors, potential solutions, initiatives, required tools, key performance indicators and potential road blocks for implementation of women’s brain capital across different life stages

From: Women’s brain health and brain capital

Life stage

Barriers/women’s risk factors

Potential solutions

Initiatives

Required tools

Road blocks

Key performance indicators

Embryo/fetus

Environmental toxins

Develop public health campaigns to reduce exposure to toxins

Prenatal care access programs and maternal wellness initiatives

Educational materials, mobile health clinics, training for health-care providers

Lack of funding, cultural barriers to health-care access, insufficient health-care infrastructure

Reduction in low birth weight, increased prenatal care visits, lower maternal cortisol levels

Inadequate prenatal care

Expand access to prenatal care

    

Maternal stress

Implement stress-reduction programs for expectant mothers

    

Childhood and adolescence

Poor nutrition

School-based nutrition programs

Targeted geographical nutritional campaigns and sex/gender workshops

Skilled personnel, educational grants, training materials for workshops

Socioeconomic disparities, gender discrimination and stigma, resistance to cultural change

Improved body mass index scores, higher school enrollment rates for girls, increased awareness of gender biases

Limited access to education

Scholarships for girls,

increase education technology initiatives such as open courses targeting girls

    

Societal gender norms

Sex/gender equality workshops, increase gender equality representation in films and entertainment

    

Early adulthood (reproductive years)

Women hold the majority of caregiving roles

Telemedicine for reproductive health and women’s health more broadly, corporate policies for flexible work hours, improved childcare support and policies, violence prevention and support networks

Flexible working programs, brain health and mental health targeted telehealth platforms

Resource allocation for the development of telehealth platforms, HR policy frameworks, support hotlines and shelters

Stigma around reproductive health, corporate resistance to policy change, lack of legal protection in some geographical regions

Decrease in reported reproductive health problems, improved job satisfaction, reduction in domestic violence cases, increased rates of males in caregiving roles

Women are still a minority in the labor workforce

     

Gender-based violence

     

Middle adulthood (post-menopause)

Menopause-related symptoms dismissed or underdiagnosed

Access to specialized clinics for women’s health, financial support for professional caregiver services, normalized discussions about menopause

Health-care system improvements to recognize and treat menopausal symptoms, targeted work policies for menopausal women

Resource allocation for affordable healthcare and professional caregiver services

Insufficient funding for health-care infrastructure, inadequate public funding for elder care and childcare services, persistent societal taboos

Improved health, higher social and professional engagement, improved job satisfaction

Menopause stigma causing reduced influence in social and professional settings

     

Increased caregiving role (elderly parents and adult children)

     

Late adulthood (post-menopause)

Social isolation

Mental health awareness campaigns, community exercise programs, senior community centers

Dementia prevention programs for women, social prescribing initiatives to mitigate loneliness, innovations in elder-care models

Exercise equipment, public service announcement, community center facilities

Health-care affordability, psychiatric illness stigma, urban–rural divide in resource allocation

Increased access to long-term elder care, increased numbers of intergenerational communities

Psychiatric and neurological disorders stigma hinders diagnosis and public policies

     

Lack of subsidized long-term elderly care

     
  1. This table is a starting point and should be adapted to the specific needs of the region or country in question. The key performance indicators are derived from ref. 1, which provides a framework for measuring the impact of these potential solutions86. The road blocks consider the geographical and cultural challenges that may impede the implementation of these initiatives. It is important to engage with local communities and stakeholders to ensure that the solutions are culturally sensitive and feasible within the local context.