2023: The year of women putting health into their own hands

For decades, women’s healthcare has been largely designed and run by men, but the rise in female technology has led to a new wave of women feeling empowered to take back control.

During the pandemic, the number of health apps being downloaded significantly rose, with usage increasing by over 37 per cent.

The women’s health app market alone is expected to grow by US2.9bn during 2021-2026 – so it’s becoming more evident that women increasingly want the option to manage and track their symptoms and cycles, feeling more equipped in this space than ever before.

Healthcare at your fingertips

We spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on our mobile phones. Being able to control our healthcare from our mobile devices not only makes it easy to access our data, but the advancement and sophistication of these technologies allows us to be able to take full ownership of our overall well being.

It’s more than just convenience, the UK has the worst gender health gap out of all countries in the G20, and this is due to women’s health being historically overlooked.

Research into women’s health conditions is also astonishingly low, with five times more research being done into erectile dysfunction – affecting 19 per cent of men – than into premenstrual syndrome, which affects 90 per cent of women.

We know that more needs to be done to tackle this, which is why femtech companies should be focused on closing this gap and utilising health data in a holistic way, to ensure there is no area of women’s health that is left neglected.

There are huge opportunities for femtech brands to continue democratising healthcare in 2023.

We’ve seen some incredible advancements in this space already: think Elvie, which provides wearable technology including a silent breast pump and Kegel Trainer which can be linked to its mobile app, to help mothers monitor their milk volume, exercise and activity.

Tinto is another great example of a wellbeing app which can be tailored to the individual user to support them through their parenting journey.

Technology like this immediately gives users access to a variety of opinions and specific insight-led information helps them to make informed choices that they may not have otherwise had.

It also removes long wait times, financial barriers from travelling to appointments or taking time off work. It can create accessibility for services that usually come at a high premium or are only available to you if you have private healthcare.

Most importantly, apps that are personalised can provide insights that doctors can’t – thanks to wearable technology – and can even fastrack your access to specialists, providing additional information that your GP doesn’t have.

However, integrating femtech into the wider healthcare system is something we are yet to see being done well. There is still a lack of willingness to accept that women are familiar with their own bodies and are able to take executive control of their healthcare.

Going beyond fertility trackers, allowing women to dictate and understand multiple aspects of their health will ultimately improve the type of treatment and care that they receive.

We have seen the positive impact on patient outcomes that can happen when self care tools are integrated into clinical treatment plans.

Management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension have long been supported with self care tools and strategies including at home monitoring and self injectables. Yet, femtech has not been given the same standing as a tool for clinicians to support their female patients.

Finally, it can help to remove the taboos and creates a sense of community, allowing women to discuss and learn from each other’s experiences and stories.

Whilst apps cannot replace primary care physicians, there are opportunities for them to be an extension of the wellness ecosystem as a whole. It would be great to see more brands create meaningful partnerships and get to a place where doctors see these kinds of technology as a positive addition to a patient’s healthcare.

Creating a holistic experience 

Following the events of Roe v Wade in the US, The White House urged people to delete their period tracker apps over concerns that data would be shared with authorities.

Whilst this may not be such a large concern in the UK, it rightly led to waves of fear and trepidation amongst women downloading and using this tech.

Brands in the femtech space must understand that they will have an increasingly anxious customer base and so re-evaluating your customer needs and expectations is vital.

Demonstrating where and how you add value to their healthcare journey can reinforce that trust and combat any existing anxieties for the user.

Transparency is key, and by showing the user exactly what you have collected about them and allowing them to change this or opt-out can aid in building trust.

Additionally, helping to demystify privacy measures and communicating how data is safe is also essential, as this can be a confusing concept to understand and may cause users to be wary.

Data privacy doesn’t always have to be negatively perceived. There are brilliant and valuable opportunities for companies to use data in building a meaningful, integrated health approach.

Having data shared with external sources can help to integrate femtech-specific findings with other personal data, to help see correlations between conditions and habits to prevent illness.

Brands can integrate femtech insights with other healthtech data to provide a rounded experience that women can use for prevention, rather than just addressing issues once they appear. This will ultimately change the way women’s health issues are viewed, and help to solve the current issue of it being isolated from the wider healthcare system.

It’s vital that we begin to address concerns with trust and truly begin to solve this issue so that femtech can be recognised and integrated into the wider community.

If that responsibility can be met, women can use these vital healthcare apps with the confidence and reassurance that both their privacy and health are being cared for – and we will see further progression in women taking back control.

Amanda Obemeasor is the health sciences services lead at the London-based business consultancy firm, Zone Digital.