“The healthcare system is inherently designed to treat us all the same”

As many mixed-race women, Noelle Acosta was let down by the American healthcare system. Here she tells FemTech World why it’s time for a change. 

Systemic racism is risking the safety of thousands of women from Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity backgrounds across the US.

According to the Office on Women’s Health (OWH), minority women continue to lag behind white women in a number of areas, including quality of care, access to care, timeliness, and outcomes.

Noelle Acosta was one of them. After struggling with painful, unexplained chronic health issues, she was dismissed by doctors and was sent home with no answers.

“I started menstruating for seven months straight,” Acosta remembers. “I was in constant pain, I would have migraines, but when I would go to the doctor’s office, I would find that my experience was incredibly transactional and dismissive.

“I was the one in five women in the US who felt ignored by their care providers.”

Like 70 per cent millennials, she turned to Google and started doing her own research in an attempt to understand her symptoms. A few months later she went back to her doctor for an ultrasound. It turned out she had 45 cysts on her left ovary.

“I was angry. I was frustrated that my health didn’t matter until I was ready to become pregnant and give birth and I felt ignored. I can’t imagine what other women who look like me and don’t have access to high quality healthcare go through.”

Current data shows notable differences in health status between white women and women of colour, with African American women and Latinas more likely to report fair or poor health.

“I’m half Mexican, half Filipino,” says Acosta. “And surprisingly, I learned in a conference that Mexican women with PCOS have the highest risk for infertility, based on their phenotype. My doctor never told me that.”

Following her own experience, she founded Noula Health to help women better understand and take care of their bodies through at-home testing, personalised care plans, nutrition and wellness recommendations and one-on-one virtual support.

The test kits measure micronutrients and wellness biomarkers to provide customised results that can then be shared with care providers.

“The healthcare system is inherently designed to treat us all the same,” says Acosta. “While we share similarities in our frustrations, we’re all unique individuals.

“By centring the individual, we can really truly deliver personalised care for each individual. Our goal is to empower women and birthing people to proactively take care of their bodies and be fearless advocates for themselves.”

While Noula offers personalised recommendations, it is not intended to provide a diagnosis, treat a disease, or replace the physician’s advice.

Instead, the platform aims to connect women with their physicians and help them detect potential health conditions early on.

“We want to help people take control of their health and feel that they’re in the driver’s seat,” says Acosta. “As we build out our clinical strategy, we hope to offer early support to women rather than just them having to wait until they have infertility issues later on in their life.

“We want to be a proactive, personalised partner for all women and birthing people, regardless of their stage or condition.”

As a woman of colour, Acosta wanted to create an inclusive platform. That’s why Noula is the first platform of its kind to launch in Spanish.

“Our goal is to create a safe and familiar space for Spanish speakers, because Hispanic and black birthing people in the US are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth-related causes than their white counterparts,” she explains.

“Reducing racial disparities was very important for us. We have OBGYNs who span across different racial backgrounds and sexual orientations so we can understand how to best support our members. We welcome all sexual orientations, genders and races.”

She is concerned about the impact of Roe v Wade’s reversal. Experts predict that increased barriers to abortion may widen the already existing large health disparities, disproportionately impacting women of colour.

“We were angry with the state of the healthcare system in the US before we started Noula. Now we’re even angrier with the decisions on Roe v. Wade,” says Acosta.

To help women across the US, Noula is hosting roundtable discussions around how to have courageous conversations in and out of medical settings and make informed decisions.

In an ever-changing health system, Acosta remains optimistic. “It’s unacceptable to be in a position where we have this attack on our bodies, but we will do everything in our power to change that.”