Black women find solutions to end racial health care disparity
From Good Morning America:
Heide Spence, a mother of two, said she does not remember a time in her life since getting her first menstrual cycle at age 10 when she did not suffer from painful period complications.
"I wouldn’t have a period for months at a time and then I would get one and it would look like a crime scene because it was so much blood," Spence, now 40, told " Good Morning America." "I would travel to work with a change of clothes because I would go from home to work 15 minutes away and would have bled through an overnight pad."
Spence, of New Jersey, said she was told by doctors over the years that her symptoms were nothing to worry about, or that one heavy period was just the result of her not having a period the months before.
Being a young, single mom on Medicaid at the time only made things harder, according to Spence.
Why celebrity menopause activism can hinder as well as help women
From The Conversation:
Only a few years ago, the menopause was a taboo subject – not spoken about in private or in public – but now celebrities including Davina McCall and Oprah Winfrey are speaking out about their experiences of going through the menopause.
Celebrity-led campaigns have helped to demystify the menopause and raise awareness of the lack of understanding of women’s health in the media and the medical profession.
Women have a right to evidence-based information, accessible resources and support. Celebrities have the power to influence and share this important message. They have the privilege of a large platform and an audience who pay attention to them.
But there are some drawbacks to celebrity menopause activism – they don’t always get their messaging right. Bearing this in mind, women should take time to consider carefully from where – and from whom – they get medical information and advice.
A Healthier Generation Starts With Healthier Women
From Forbes:
Women’s health is facing renewed challenges in the wake of the election, with critical funding and protections at risk. As the cornerstone of a thriving society, women deserve our unwavering support, and investing in their health is essential—not just for today’s communities, but for future generations. A resilient, healthier society starts with safeguarding the health and well-being of all women, especially during a time of regression and opposition.
As a caretaker myself in my roles as a mother, a grandmother, and an aunt as well as in my professional capacity as a social epidemiologist, women’s health researcher, and public health leader, I believe that if we are serious about improving outcomes for society, we must start prioritizing women’s health. My career has focused on understanding health disparities, particularly in cardiovascular disease and stroke. I have seen firsthand how a woman’s health shapes the future well-being of all the people in their life: children, parents, partners, and friends. Despite advances in public health, we still fail to give women’s health the attention it deserves, especially during the critical stages of adolescence, reproductive years, midlife, and in later years of life.
New Stroke Recommendations Call Out Risks Unique to Women
From The New York Times:
New guidelines for preventing strokes spell out for the first time the risks faced by women, noting that pre-term births and conditions like endometriosis and early menopause can raise the risk.
“Prior guidelines tended to be sex-agnostic,” said Dr. Brian Snelling, director of the stroke program at Baptist Health South Florida Marcus Neuroscience Institute, who was not involved in writing the guidelines.
“Now we have more data about sex-specific subgroups, so you’re able to more appropriately screen those patients.”
The focus of the recommendations by the American Stroke Association, published Monday in the journal Stroke, is primary prevention -- the effort to prevent strokes in individuals who hae never had one. It represents the first such update in a decade, and it’s the playbook by which millions of Americans will be cared for.
New guidelines aim to transform maternal healthcare in South Africa
From IOL News:
The release of the new National Integrated Maternal and Perinatal Care Guidelines (IMPCGs) marks a pivotal moment for women’s healthcare in South Africa.
These guidelines introduce much-needed reforms in the areas of respectful maternity care, maternal mental health and intimate partner violence. For women across the country, this is a significant step toward ensuring that their health and well-being are prioritised and protected.
“Good maternal health is a basic human right,” says Associate Professor Simone Honikman, founder and director of the Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP), a Cape Town-based organisation that played a crucial role in developing the IMPCGs.
“And these guidelines will ensure that right is better upheld.”
Go Red for Women luncheon raises $270K for heart health
From WNYT.com:
The American Heart Association held its annual Go Red for Women luncheon at the Capital Center in Albany on Friday. More than 400 people attended.
The event is all about raising awareness and money to help fight heart disease, which is the number one killer of women.
More than $270,000 was raised.
Around $54,000 of that was from an auction, led by a Bethlehem High School senior who is a heart disease survivor and the world’s youngest certified benefit auctioneer.
This is the 20th year for this event, and it comes as the American Heart Association celebrates its centennial this year.
Global leaders are transforming the conversation on women’s health. Here's how
From the World Economic Forum:
The Global Alliance for Women’s Health calls for centring women’s voices in healthcare discussions to ensure their needs are accurately represented in global agendas.
Empowering women and adolescent girls with better access to healthcare and education can help break cycles of poverty and improve societal well-being.
Mainstreaming women’s health is necessary to address health disparities and ensure women receive equitable care across all conditions.
Despite the evidence that investing in women’s health positively impacts economic and social development, women’s health is extremely under-researched, under-funded and under-valued. To build a prosperous, inclusive and resilient world, this must change.
To rewrite the narrative around women’s health, support women and girls agency and accelerate investments in women’s health that benefit families and communities, the World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Women’s Health, supported by the Gates Foundation, is convening stakeholders globally to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities in advancing women’s health outcomes.
What’s Next For Femtech: Charting A Path For Women’s Health Innovation In The U.S.
From Forbes:
The femtech industry has experienced remarkable growth in recent years, both in terms of investment and innovation. In fact, Deloitte has reported that femTech is expected to hit a market value of over $100 billion by 2032. And McKinsey values the overall women’s health market at $1 trillion annually by 2040.
This momentum reflects a growing recognition of gender-specific healthcare needs within the public awareness, legislation and investors, underscored by the advocacy of leaders such as Vice President Kamala Harris, the First Lady Jill Biden and Melinda French Gates. These advocates have championed issues from maternal mortality to reproductive rights in order to bring meaningful advances to women’s health in the United States.
As the Biden administration draws to a close, the focus turns to the future: What’s next for women’s health, and how can we sustain and expand on this progress under a new government?
Singer Amy Grant’s personal testimonial shines light on No. 1 threat to women’s health
From the American Heart Association:
DALLAS, November 13, 2024 — Singer-songwriter and musician, Amy Grant understands first-hand that cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the No. 1 cause of death for women. In 2020, the Grammy Award winner underwent open heart surgery to correct a rare condition affecting her heart, which her doctor referred to as a ticking time bomb. Because CVD causes 1 in 5 women’s deaths each year,[i] the American Heart Association has worked tirelessly for more than two decades to address awareness of the leading threat to women’s health and close clinical care gaps. In this season of gratitude and giving, Grant, who continues to be healthy and strong following her procedure, is calling attention to the urgent need for support to save women’s lives by funding research to better diagnose, treat and prevent cardiovascular disease through a new year end giving and public service announcement (PSA) campaign.
“In our centennial year of lifesaving work, we continue to relentlessly pursue a world free from cardiovascular disease and stroke, so more people have a great outcome like Amy,” said American Heart Association Chief Executive Officer Nancy Brown. “The American Heart Association’s fight against heart disease and stroke is propelled by the generosity of people who believe in a future free from cardiovascular disease. Together, we can help ensure everyone everywhere has access to a long healthy life, especially women impacted by heart disease.”
Oura’s New Perimenopause Report Shows the Gap in Women’s Health Research
From Wired:
Menopause is weird. If you’re a human woman, you’re born with every egg you’ll ever have in your ovaries. By the time you reach your fifties, every egg is gone. You stop getting your period. As your hormone levels change, you experience symptoms ranging from hot flashes to a loss of bone density. We don’t know much about it, because only humans and some whales experience it. There's also a gap in research specifically for women's health.
A slew of recent initiatives, from both the public and private sectors, are trying to change this. Last year, First Lady Jill Biden launched the White House Initiative on Women’s Health to help close the research gap on conditions like menopause. Also, if you own an Apple Watch, you can opt in to contribute your data to the Apple Women’s Health Study, designed to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles.
'Not autistic enough?' How underdiagnosis of ADHD and autism is impacting women
From Women’s Health:
When I first told my therapist I might be autistic, she laughed. I was told that I couldn’t be, as I was nothing like the autistic children she knew.
During my autism assessment four years later, I was sent a test for masking - concealing neurodivergent traits to appear ‘normal’. I scored almost full marks.
It was like putting on glasses for the first time, showing me how every experience I’d ever had was shaped by both autism and ADHD. My whole life, every move I made was carefully strategised, requiring immense energy to camouflage myself as ‘normal’.
How much does the gender health gap cost? For Alyse, it’s $400,000
From The Guardian:
Alyse Bradley has done the maths. The cost of living with multiple chronic health conditions has left her at least $400,000 out of pocket over the past two decades.
Each year the 37-year-old pays $600 for regular GP visits, $2,000 for specialist appointments, $1,000 for scans, $4,800 for ongoing pain treatments including physiotherapy, $1,400 for a variety of medications and $1,200 for vitamins.
Bradley estimates she has lost between $5,000 and $10,000 in annual income through unpaid leave when she is unable to work. This was especially the case early in her career when employers couldn’t see anything was physically wrong and would not believe her.
Pregnant teens: girls in South Africa need focused, supportive healthcare and more information about safe sex
From The Conversation:
An estimated 12 million teenage pregnancies are reported globally every year.
Girls and young women in this age group face multiple risk factors that contribute to early pregnancies. These include a lack of access to comprehensive sexual education, socioeconomic inequality, cultural norms, and limited availability of contraceptives. They’re also less likely than older women to get prenatal care, and more likely to experience stigma and discrimination in healthcare facilities if they do seek care.
All of these factors can complicate both pregnancy and childbirth. Maternal health complications are among the leading causes of death for adolescent girls worldwide.
The good news is that teenage pregnancies have declined in some parts of the world. However, they remain high in South Africa, especially in the country’s rural and low-income areas.
Your Body Ages Rapidly In Your 40s And 60s. Doctors Say These Habits Will Help Slow It Down
From Women’s Health:
Talk about a birthday gift I wish I could mark “return to sender.” Just two weeks shy of turning 42, this ominous headline crossed my Slack: “Human aging accelerates dramatically at age 44 and 60.” Now, I’m no great mathematician, but even I can deduce that in just two years, I’ll supposedly undergo a fit of rapid aging. In a word—yikes.
But let’s rewind for just a sec. That headline comes courtesy of a recent study out of Stanford Medicine, published in the journal Nature, which examined the very, well, nature of aging by studying participants’ molecules. (The study included 108 participants, both men and women, between the ages of 25 and 75.) What they found was that the molecules didn’t shift in numbers in a linear fashion over time, but in bursts around the ages of 44 and 60.
“It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s,” said study senior author Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. “And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”
Initially, researchers assumed that the mid-40s shift they noticed was due to the changes women in the test group were undergoing during perimenopause or menopause. But when they isolated just the men, the same shift was still evident, leading them to theorize that there are other underlying drivers of aging for both men and women that have nothing to do with perimenopause or menopause.
Innovation In Women’s Health And Wellness: Meet The LULU Group
From Forbes:
A recent McKinsey survey of the health and wellness market summed up the industry’s growth this way.
First, wellness as a global industry is growing impressively. The firm estimates that wellness exceeded $1.8 trillion dollars overall and $480 billion in the US alone, growing 5 -10% annually.
More impressive still is how it’s growing. 82% of US consumers see wellness as an important priority in their everyday lives, as do 73% of UK consumers and 87% of Chinese consumers. Its best customers are Gen Z and Millenials who, according to McKinsey now purchase more wellness products and services than older generations.
And it’s an ecosystem of products and services: health, sleep, nutrition, fitness, appearance, and mindfulness.
As the market expands, sources of innovation in health and wellness are diversifying well beyond the usual suspects. Beyond well-established global innovators in the US and France, new products and services are being created in South Korea, Japan, Israel, Australia, Singapore and Kazakhstan.
Yes Kazakhstan, the home of fast-growing startups like the LULU Group, Hero’s Journey, and Resolventa.
How Gender Bias in Medicine Has Shaped Women’s Health
From Harvard Medicine:
In the mid-1990s, up to 40 percent of menopausal women in America were prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT), many of them indefinitely. Doctors urged even asymptomatic women to take HRT, telling them it would decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia, prevent osteoporosis, and improve their overall sense of well-being. Then, in 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative study showed that prolonged use of HRT increases women’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer. Prescriptions for HRT plummeted. Though the study has widely been considered flawed, today under 5 percent of menopausal American women take HRT. Of those who do take it, most do so for less than five years, even if they feel it benefits them and wish to continue taking it.
The rise and fall of HRT might be viewed as a simple case of medical knowledge advancing — we did better when we knew better, to paraphrase Maya Angelou. But Elizabeth Comen, MD ’04, a breast oncologist at NYU Langone Health, sees a darker, parallel story in which sexism and misogyny have negatively affected the medical care women receive, the extent to which women’s autonomy regarding their own bodies is respected, and the quality of research on women’s health.
Women’s health startup Maven Clinic closes funding at $1.7 billion valuation
From CNBC:
Maven Clinic, a health-care startup for women and families, announced Tuesday that it has closed a $125 million funding round at a $1.7 billion valuation.
The company seeks to offer patients virtual care across their entire reproductive life cycle, whether they are planning a family, pregnant, postpartum or into menopause. Maven has raised a total of more than $425 million, and it will use its fresh capital to invest in its fertility benefits, expand its platform and leverage real-time data to deliver more proactive care to members.
Maven CEO Kate Ryder told CNBC she founded the company in 2014 after watching her friends struggle to find the support they needed while building their families. Ten years later, Maven covers about 17 million lives through its contracts with health plans and employers, including companies like Amazon, Microsoft and AT&T.
“Digital health is just at the very beginning,” Ryder told CNBC.
The company was the first U.S. startup dedicated to women’s and family health to ever reach “unicorn” status, or a valuation of more than $1 billion. Some of Maven’s investors include firms like General Catalyst, Sequoia and Oak HC/FT, as well as celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon.
Harnessing AI to bridge gaps in women’s health care
From U.S. National Science Foundation:
Menopause is a natural stage in life that affects all women as they age. It is often accompanied by physical, physiological, emotional and cognitive changes that can significantly affect health. Nearly 85% of women in the U.S. report symptoms associated with menopause. Despite its widespread impact, menopause has received relatively little attention in biomedical research.
Since menopause often coincides with the development of age-related chronic diseases, understanding the body's physiological changes during this period is crucial. Researchers are turning to advanced technologies like artificial intelligence to enhance risk prediction, prevention and symptom management, addressing both the immediate symptoms of menopause and menopause-related complications like osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases and cognitive decline.
By analyzing large volumes of data, including genetic markers, hormone levels and behavior, AI is enabling scientists to discover previously undetected variations in women's biological changes. These insights are leading to more accurate diagnoses and enabling the development of personalized treatment strategies, ultimately improving health outcomes and enhancing quality of life.
Women's health gap: 6 conditions that highlight gender inequality in healthcare
From World Economic Forum:
Women spend 25% more of their lives in debilitating health than men, according to a report from the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Health Institute.
The women's health gap includes a persistent data gap, with women being underdiagnosed for certain conditions compared to men.
Here’s what you need to know about the women’s health gap – and six conditions that highlight it.
Although the world has passed important milestones towards gender parity in recent years, there remains much to be done – especially when it comes to the gender health gap.
Here's why the gap is so important to understand – and six conditions that highlight it.
Empowering Women In Africa Through Health And Economic Independence
From Forbes:
Renee Ngamau, co-founder and President of CheckUps Medical Hub, has been a passionate advocate for human rights and women’s economic power for over two decades. Through her leadership in social impact initiatives, health, and fintech, she has worked to address the barriers to economic power, particularly for women in low- and middle-income countries.
In this Q&A, Ngamau shares her insights on the link between women’s health and economic power, the vision behind launching CheckUps Medical Hub, and the essential role that leaders in the public and private sectors can play in shaping policies that consider women’s health as a key lever for women’s economic power.