1.5 billion women lack screenings worldwide, says US medtech champion

More than one and a half billion women worldwide lack screenings for cancer, heart disease, diabetes or sexually transmitted infections, the medical technology company Hologic has found.

The second annual Hologic Global Women’s Health Index is one of the world’s largest studies of women’s well-being.

The report has identified barriers to preventive care for women, including struggles to find enough food and shelter, lack of educational opportunities and threats to women’s safety. These contribute to widening gaps in women’s well-being across high- vs. low-income countries, urban vs. rural areas, and highly- vs. less-educated individuals.

The barriers also fuel record-high levels of worry, stress, sadness and anger among women worldwide.

All 122 countries and territories evaluated by the index have significant room for improvement in women’s health.

The average global score was only 53 out of a possible 100, the highest score was 70 for Taiwan and the lowest score was 22 for Afghanistan.

“The lack of progress and, in some cases, backward momentum justify an even louder wake-up call for world leaders to do more for women, whose well-being underpins the health of families, communities, societies and economies,” said Steve MacMillan, chairman, president and CEO of Hologic.

“Reliable data can ignite genuine change, and we look forward to engaging leaders worldwide to use the index to champion women’s wellness.”

Hologic partnered with Gallup, an analytics firm, to create the index. For the second annual report, approximately 127,000 people worldwide – including 66,000 women and girls aged 15 and older – were surveyed during 2021 in more than 140 languages.

This reach means the index represents 94 per cent of the world’s women and girls.

“We’re proud to collaborate with Hologic to enable women to tell leaders about their health needs, ” said Gallup managing partner, Vipula Gandhi.

“As we jointly work with policymakers across the continents, we emphasise the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to elevating women’s well-being.”

The index looks at five interlocking dimensions of women’s health: preventive care, basic needs, opinions of health and safety, individual health and emotional health. Together, these dimensions account for more than 80 per cent of the variances in women’s life expectancy worldwide, aiming to guide companies in focusing on early detection and treatment of disease and create stronger safety nets for life’s basic needs such as food and shelter.

About 85 per cent of the women surveyed for the index believe in the value of regular visits to a healthcare professional, but less than 60 per cent of them had gone to a doctor, nurse, midwife or other health provider in the past year. Only 12 per cent of women said they were tested for any type of cancer.

Dr Susan Harvey, Hologic’s vice president of Worldwide Medical Affairs said: “As a physician who has worked with patients in different corners of the world for decades, I’ve seen firsthand how early detection of disease makes a critical difference in lifespan and quality of life for women. But when women have to choose between getting healthcare for themselves and finding the next meal for their families, they will likely deprioritise their health.

“It’s crucial for policymakers to see preventive care as part of a multidimensional, mutually dependent set of factors that should be jointly addressed.”

Hologic, a US medical technology company, focuses primarily on improving women’s health and well-being through early detection, treatment and product development.

Its advancements include invention of the world’s first commercial 3D mammography system to fight breast cancer, technology for cervical cancer testing and minimally invasive surgical technologies for uterine fibroids and abnormal uterine bleeding.

The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index, which provides a science-backed data roadmap for improving women’s well-being, aims to research insights and access to quality care for underserved women.