Menopause
Mind the gap: How menopause affects women disproportionately
Women of colour are more likely to reach menopause earlier and experience more intense symptoms
Many factors come into play when women enter menopause, making each experience unique. Helen Normoyle, co-founder of My Menopause Centre, tells FemTech World why we need a more nuanced understanding of the menopausal transition.
From the average duration of menopause-related hot flashes to gastrointestinal and vaginal issues, menopause affects women differently.
Recent studies from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) have found that women of colour tend to enter perimenopause and menopause at earlier ages than their white peers, have longer transition periods and experience more intense symptoms.
“Raising awareness of menopause across different communities is extremely important,” says Helen Normoyle, co-founder of My Menopause Centre, a website and online menopause clinic.
“We need to be conscious of barriers to diversity and inclusion because changing the mentality around what menopause is and what it is not requires a more nuanced understanding of how cultural differences can shape the way a woman experiences and describes her symptoms.”
My Menopause Centre, led by Dr Clare Spencer, a registered menopause specialist and GP, provides evidence-based and personalised menopause support to women across the UK regardless of their age, health, ethnicity, sexuality or economic background.
The website offers a free online questionnaire that helps women determine whether they are menopausal or perimenopausal and collects information to minimise the existing data gap. The more women complete it, the more they will contribute to the collective understanding of how the menopause is experienced.
“We invested in the questionnaire so that women could use it and get a free personalised assessment,” Normoyle tells me. “We use an algorithm based on all of the thinking that a doctor would use to determine whether or not a woman is in a particular stage of the menopause transition. It doesn’t matter what your friend or your mom did. Every woman’s experience is different.”
The questionnaire is meant to give women more clarity over their symptoms and the support they need and it was inspired by Helen’s personal experience with menopause.
“I was very reluctant to speak about what I was going through,” she remembers. “So, when I decided to talk about it with Claire, who was training to become a menopause specialist, I had a lot of questions.
“After we had a chat, I thought maybe we could bottle up that knowledge and share it with all women because something that happens to every woman isn’t known by every woman. So, we designed the questionnaire to help women better understand the menopausal symptoms and find solutions,” she explains.
“We take a very holistic approach. We look at lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, as well as alternative treatments to HRT, coaching and counselling, but the real driver for it is to help those who can’t afford a private appointment.”
Normoyle and Dr Clare Spencer launched My Menopause Centre in May 2021 and so far more than 15,000 people have filled out the questionnaire. The founders are to meet with MP Carolyn Harris to discuss the findings and inform the government’s current UK Menopause Task Force, to help close the gender data gap and improve the support provided to women.
Menopause is a diversity issue, says Normoyle. “We campaigned on a number of fronts to raise awareness of the impact of menopause and what needs to be done and we submitted evidence into the Department of Health.
“Our findings have shown that the health and data gap is more acute for women of colour and also HRT take-up is significantly lower,” the co-founder continues. “Nobody really understands the reasons behind these differences, but we want to be a key driver in the movement of using evidence and information to close that data gap.”
In March, Channel 4 and My Menopause Centre came together to host a special 4Talks session to discuss the importance of intersectionality when tackling the menopause within the workplace and wider advertising industry, as well as the need to raise awareness of the menopause, treatment options with black and brown women.
“We are very proud of what we’ve done so far,” says Normoyle. “We get patient feedback on a regular basis and when we see the Google reviews coming in, it’s really motivating. That’s the fuel that keeps us going.
“I really hope that with our website and all of our free resources, we can play a role in helping and empowering women to find evidence-based information and advice so that they can take control of their symptoms.”
The clinic is also offering support services to businesses including Tui, VW, Boots, DFS, Hill + Knowlton, Accenture, HSBC, British Airways and Volkswagen, both training staff in menopause awareness and helping menopausal employees.
Normoyle believes that families, societies and companies will all be a better place by having women fully at their best.
“I am fully convinced that by supporting women at this stage of life, we can make the world a better place,” she says. “Menopause shouldn’t be something younger women dread and fear. Knowledge is power and the more prepared you are, the better your experience of menopause will be. I hope we can play a part in reframing that narrative.”
For more information, visit mymenopausecentre.com.
Cardiff’s first women’s health hub has opened, offering specialist perimenopause and menopause support for women aged 40 to 65.
Minister for mental health and wellbeing Sarah Murphy visited the East Cardiff Menopause Hub this week to learn about the new service, which brings together patient-centred advice, treatment and community support under one roof.
The hub forms part of a Wales-wide network of pathfinder women’s health hubs established during the first phase of delivering the Women’s Health Plan.
Women registered with one of the East Cardiff GP Cluster practices will be able to access extended 20-minute consultations, available face-to-face, by telephone or online, with GPs who have specialist experience in menopause care.
Practice nurses will also provide broader healthcare support, including blood pressure checks, lifestyle advice and guidance on hormone replacement therapy.
A Menopause Café, open to women of all ages, will offer a welcoming community space to share experiences and ask questions.
Sarah Murphy said: “It was fantastic to visit the Maelfa hub and see first-hand how Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is bringing high-quality, compassionate care closer to home for women in East Cardiff.
“Women’s health hubs will make it easier for women in Wales to get care when they need it.
“As the pathfinder hubs are rolled out, we’ll be listening to women’s feedback and adapting to make sure we are building a health service which meets the needs of women and girls, now and for generations to come.”
By March, every health board in Wales will have a pathfinder women’s health hub. Each health board has received an additional £300,000 this financial year to support their development.
The hubs form part of the Women’s Health Plan, which includes more than 60 actions to close the gender health gap and is based on feedback from around 4,000 women across Wales.
Dr Claire Beynon, executive director of public health at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: “Too many women feel unsupported or unheard when seeking help for the symptoms of menopause.
“The East Cardiff Menopause Hub is a really positive step in bringing high-quality, compassionate care closer to home, with longer appointments and specialist expertise focused on women’s health needs.
“By combining clinical care with community support, this service helps women feel informed, confident and in control of their health. It also reflects our wider commitment to reducing health inequalities.”
Femtech World is to celebrate game-changing menopause innovations at its global awards event.
The Femtech World Awards, now in their third year, celebrates the brightest lights in women’s health innovation.
The event celebrates some of the best examples of leadership, innovation and impact in key areas that affect women’s health and wellbeing.
The winner of the Menopause Innovation of the Year award will have shown exceptional innovation in addressing the health, wellbeing and quality-of-life needs of people navigating perimenopause, menopause and beyond.
Consideration will be given to impact, inclusivity accessibility and the ability to break stigma while delivering meaningful solutions.
This award celebrates those leading the way in redefining how menopause is understood and supported across healthcare and society.
The award is sponsored by Cross-Border Impact Ventures (CBIV) – an impact venture capital firm on a mission to revolutionise venture investing in health technology.
CBIV invests in early-growth stage health technology companies commercialising medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, and digital health innovations and leveraging cutting-edge technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).
All innovations CBIV finances are relevant to women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health and located in North America and Europe, with the ability to scale technologies to emerging markets.
CBIV is driven by the belief that good health should not be restricted by gender, age, race, wealth, or borders and seeks to expand access to their portfolio’s world class technologies inclusively and globally.
Annie Thériault, managing partner, Cross-Border Impact Ventures , said: “Being part of the FemTech World Awards gives us a front-row seat to the most exciting breakthroughs in women’s health.
“It’s a powerful way to stay connected to the pulse of innovation and the future of care.”
Find out more about the awards and enter for free here.
Addressing women’s health could unlock US$100bn by 2030 in the US alone, a new report has found.
The World Economic Forum has published its Women’s Health Investment Outlook to highlight undercapitalised opportunities in women’s health.
A Boston Consulting Group analysis cited in the report estimates that treating four major conditions that disproportionately affect women could unlock this value by 2030.
The four areas are cardiovascular disease (heart and blood vessel disease), osteoporosis (bone thinning), menopause and Alzheimer’s disease.
These common, high-burden conditions remain underserved.
The report notes that, despite women making up half the global population, women’s healthcare attracts only six per cent of private healthcare investment, and companies focused exclusively on women’s health receive less than one per cent.
Around 90 per cent of current investment is concentrated in reproductive health, maternal care and women-specific cancers.
The authors say the true burden and potential of women’s healthcare have been obscured by fragmented data, historical bias, a lack of women in relevant leadership roles and misaligned incentives.
Half of private investments in women’s health-specific companies are at pre-seed or seed stage, and the sector is gaining momentum.
The report points to acquisitions in pelvic health, diagnostics and rising institutional interest in scalable platforms.
Six areas show strong potential for investment: women’s cancer therapeutics; virtual women’s healthcare and benefits management; remote maternal health monitoring; women-focused mental health platforms; women-first longevity and wellness concierge services; and wearables and platforms for women’s metabolic health.
Given the spa and wellness sector’s majority-female clientele, operators could host selected treatments if they extend their facilities.
Suppliers and innovators can also play a key role in creating and adopting women’s healthcare technologies, with devices to support pelvic health already supplied to high-end health clubs and spas to address continence and pelvic pain.
The report was published in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, with contributions from the investment community, healthcare professionals and others.
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