Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Awareness of Women's Health: Women make up 50% of the population, yet their health needs have been overlooked for years. Healthy women build healthy families, societies, and, therefore, economies.
- Organon's Mission: Addressing the inequity of access and awareness of women's health through a holistic and innovative approach. – this is noted as our mission, so maybe we give another title to this part, Our mission is to deliver impactful medicines and solutions for a healthier everyday
- Building Healthy Ecosystems through Partnerships: Organising PPPs with key sector stakeholders to meet the local needs of women in Africa.
- Organon's Portfolio: contraception and family planning, postpartum hemorrhage, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, psoriasis, and non-invasive hysterectomies, among others.
- Organon Tailoring Diagnostics for Women: MIS(S)DIAGNOSED award-winning campaign to better diagnose cardiovascular diseases in women.
- Organon Advancing Women's Health in Africa: Organon is a founding member of the COWHA, Women's Health Accelerator program for entrepreneurs.
- Ramy Koussa's Lessons as Head of Organon META: Sharing one vision to unite diverse and dynamic regions (overseeing over 75 countries)
EF: If you were to address the recently concluded UN General Assembly, what message would you choose to convey?
RK: Women’s health has been overlooked for far too long. Women comprise 50% of the population, yet their impact goes even further: a healthy woman supports a healthy family, leading to a healthy society. A healthy society, in turn, drives a strong economy and sustainable growth – a goal we all strive for.
EF: Can you elaborate on Organon's role in the healthcare industry and your current priorities?
RK: Organon is a company founded with a vision from day one to create a healthier, better life for every woman, every day. We may be one of the few pharmaceutical companies with women's health at the core of our mission.
With this focus, we are working to broaden the traditional definition of women’s health—going beyond reproductive health to include conditions that exclusively or disproportionately impact women or affect them in unique ways. This approach drives us at Organon to challenge longstanding perspectives and address overlooked needs in healthcare. For instance, only 4% of healthcare investment is directed solely to women, and it was not until the early 1990s that women were even included in clinical trials. As a result, we still know comparatively little about how diseases uniquely manifest in women and the optimal treatments.
In my particular role and region, I work across diverse country archetypes, many of which face significant challenges and inequitable healthcare access for women. In some of these areas, maternal and newborn mortality rates remain high, driven by economic, geographic, and systemic barriers. For example, postpartum hemorrhage still poses a severe risk, leading to preventable loss of life among new mothers. Our focus is to raise awareness about these issues and then work toward impactful solutions. Secondly, we aim to ensure accessible healthcare by improving availability and addressing affordability challenges.
EF: What strategic partnerships and initiatives are essential to build a sustainable healthcare ecosystem that enhances access and meets long-term public health goals?
RK: We need a robust healthcare ecosystem before achieving access. Access, at its core, is about ensuring patients can access the necessary medicines or health services. While that is vital, it is more transactional. The real goal is to create a synchronized, long-term healthcare system.
This is where Organon is especially proud—we are deeply committed to extending partnerships because we recognize the scale and value of our mission. We know we cannot achieve this alone. We work collaboratively with regulators, government bodies, healthcare professionals, medical societies, nonprofit organizations, patient groups, and other stakeholders—even partnering with companies who share this goal. It is about uniting efforts to advance a critical cause that is long overdue.
In practical terms, we are coordinating these efforts within the ecosystem to lay a solid foundation for increased accessibility. A key example of this work is our program aimed at low- and middle-income countries, where we provide contraception devices at the lowest prices globally. This program targets the prevention of about 120 million unintended pregnancies by 2030, a cornerstone of our commitment to women’s health and access.
This program reaches millions of women, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt, where it is most impactful. Africa alone represents about 70% of the initiative. While the program extends to other regions, Africa remains a key focus. Our work here goes beyond providing resources; it is about forming partnerships with the right funders to support healthcare services, including education, awareness, and tools for patients, healthcare professionals, and local organizations. Our belief in a well-coordinated ecosystem as the foundation for sustainable access, rather than merely transactional support, guides this approach.
EF: Is Organon undertaking any specific initiatives to reach the African population and raise awareness, aiming to build an informed ecosystem where people can actively engage with and advance these unique solutions?
RK: I am pleased to share that when it comes to Africa, Organon is a founding member of the Coalition for Women’s Health in Africa. This private organization is dedicated to raising awareness, prioritizing resources toward critical areas, and spotlighting regions that are currently underserved or lacking support.
We recognize the importance of a local approach in some cases. For example, we have this platform across Africa—combining the broader programs and the Coalition for Women’s Health in Africa, which now includes over 20 entities and continues growing. Additionally, we have local partnerships in individual countries, collaborating with NGOs and other organizations to address region-specific challenges and needs.
From the start, we have aimed for innovative approaches, including the launch of our Women’s Health Accelerator program. This initiative invites entrepreneurs and young innovators with ideas to enhance women’s health across Africa and beyond. Launched in partnership with Flat6Labs, a prominent accelerator and incubator organization, the program has received over 500 submissions globally over the past two or three years. Recently, we announced the three winners of the latest cohort, focused on fertility planning, family planning, and women’s wellness, with winners from Poland, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
This initiative is entirely nonprofit; we provide young entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to prepare them for success. We connect them with a network of supporters to help bring their ideas to fruition and offer mentorship from Organon and our partners to help them unlock their potential.
Our focus is on building an ecosystem that meets those diverse needs. We have numerous partnerships spanning scientific organizations, healthcare professionals, societies, governments, young entrepreneurs, and communities.
EF: What are the key priorities regarding the disease burden in your primary African markets? Is there anything in your Portfolio that you are particularly excited about for 2025 or currently developing?
RK: Organon has four main areas of focus: established brands, women’s health, fertility, and biosimilars. These encompass our current product offerings.
Focusing specifically on Africa, I would like to highlight the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. This issue is not new; we know it has been a significant burden and is the leading cause of death among both women and men. However, we aim to approach this from a female perspective.
One of our standout initiatives is an award-winning awareness campaign called "Mis(s)diagnosed." This program seeks to address the common misconceptions surrounding heart attack symptoms. Traditionally, we have been conditioned to recognize heart attacks through the typical symptoms portrayed in the movie and media, such as chest pain and shoulder discomfort. But in reality, this is not always the case for a woman. Symptoms can often manifest differently in women, such as gastrointestinal disturbances, jaw pain, fatigue or vague discomfort, and we aim to highlight this variation. Our goal is to educate the healthcare providers and the public about these differences so they can recognize symptoms more effectively, leading to quicker diagnoses and timely interventions. We are also expanding globally into previously underserved areas, focusing on conditions that disproportionately affect women.
Since our launch in 2021, our research and development efforts have increasingly prioritized women’s health, targeting conditions that uniquely affect women or that they experience differently. We are also working to enhance access to family planning methods, recognizing the economic challenges many parts of Africa face. Unplanned pregnancies and early childbearing can hinder economic growth and force younger women out of the workforce earlier than anticipated. By providing effective family planning options, we aim to foster healthier communities and empower women to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
EF: What are the key lessons you have learned about navigating different regions and managing your teams, especially during these times of geopolitical transition?
RK: We would describe the region's dynamics as quite complex. From the outset, we knew it would not be an easy task; it is a very dynamic area with diverse backgrounds and cultures. We recognized the importance of relying on each other's strengths and understanding how we complement one another.
You can visualize this concept with a flock of birds on a long journey. They alternate leadership based on who can navigate from point A to point B. There is always a leader, but it is not always the same. This approach has been a guiding principle for me; fortunately, it has proven effective.
I understand that the best solutions may not come from me every time. Access-winning strategies will likely emerge from my access and pricing team, who have the expertise in that area. This alternating leadership model within our team is one key lesson I have learned.
Another important lesson, which is quite simple but often overlooked in daily practices, is that we all share the same intention. None of our team members are called employees; we call ourselves “founders”. This reflects our pride in our work and our commitment to a shared mission. We are all in this together as founders of the company, and none of us would want anything less than success as we move forward on our journey.
Another lesson learned is that actions or behaviors that seem misaligned do not necessarily reflect a lack of commitment. Instead, they might indicate that someone is caring but perceiving things differently. Improving communication and fostering openness around these differences will help us navigate these challenges.
Lastly, I believe our values are essential to who we are as a company. Having values displayed on walls or slides means little unless we live by them daily. Our values are deeply embedded in our culture and are a daily reminder of what we strive to achieve.
EF: Do you have a final message for our readers?
RK: I am incredibly proud of where we are today and our progress in addressing this long-overdue topic. Seeing our company take a leadership role in this area is fulfilling. I am even more excited about where we are headed. I firmly believe that, over time, Organon will significantly impact women’s health and improve the world. I am honored to contribute to this journey and support it wholeheartedly.
On a personal level, I am a proud father of two daughters, and my family—my wife, mother, sister, and the community around me—will greatly benefit from what Organon brings, especially in this part of the world. It drives me to create a healthier world for them, energizing me daily. Even when the weeks get tough, I find motivation in our mission and the positive change we’re working toward. This sense of purpose keeps me focused on what we are here to achieve.
