Leading organisations across the healthcare value chain have signed an open letter addressing all players in the healthcare ecosystem calling for the improvement of gender equity in global healthcare. 

 

The letter, released by Kearney, highlights a long history of inadequate awareness, data, infrastructure, and funding as well as societal and institutional bias leading to worse health outcomes for women across the globe. 

 

Over 40 organisations, including Ferring, UCB, Roche, GE Healthcare, SAP, Salesforce, Tech Mahindra and Microsoft,  have signed the letter.

 

Problems throughout the system 

Gender bias can be found in every corner of the healthcare ecosystem. This begins with investment, with, for example, just 3 percent of overall digital health funding made up by women’s health digital start-ups, says the letter. 

 

Similarly, in research and development, despite the fact that, for example, women account for 70 percent of chronic pain patients, 80 percent of pain medication has only been tested on men or male mice. Education and public awareness around women’s health has also been neglected, with 41 percent of UK medical schools not having mandatory menopause education on the curriculum, it said.

 

Poor outcomes for women

The consequences of this imbalance are significant for women, and examples are many and varied. On average:

• Women wait four years longer than men to receive a diagnosis for the same disease.

• Women are seven times more likely to have a heart condition misdiagnosed. 

• Women with type 1 diabetes are 44 percent more likely to die from secondary complications than men.

• Women are 52 percent more likely than men to experience an adverse reaction to medical drugs.

 

Time for action

Today’s open letter calls for this emerging cross-sector community to make a lasting commitment to regenerating women’s health -- something that makes economic, as well as moral, sense. A report by the World Economic Forum has projected that “investments addressing the women’s health gap could potentially boost the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040.” The letter lays out six ways to achieve this by redesigning the healthcare system with women in mind. These are: 

1. Increasing advocacy and awareness around women’s health 

2. Expanding curriculums to adequately cover women’s health topics

3. Increasing the volume of clinical and policy research trials on women’s health

4. Building women-centric integrated care pathways 

5. Ensuring gender-specific data sets are collected, regulated, analyzed, used, and shared across the healthcare ecosystem 

6. Boosting funding for academic research, product research and development, and consumer health solutions around women’s health

 

This isn’t the first time that these issues and solutions have been presented. The causes are complex, varied, and often buried under layers of historical norms and bias. Companies acting alone will certainly have impact, but the step change required will only come from cross-sector collaborations. 

 

The hope is this open letter movement, bringing together a cross-sector community of representatives from the healthcare industry, education, government, the medical profession, financial investors, and all other parties, will be able to shape a more equitable future for women’s health.

 

Paula Bellostas, partner at Kearney, said: “Women not only spend a greater part of their lives in ill health and disability when compared with men, but they are also more likely to have their concerns dismissed, misdiagnosed, or missed altogether when they do seek help. And although there has been some progress in recent years, individual actors across the healthcare ecosystem cannot solve a problem of this magnitude and complexity. Today’s open letter focuses on one central premise: creativity, community, and collaboration will be needed to close the women’s health gap and we are excited to bring together players from all sectors that are determined to change things for the better, together.”

 

Alex Liu, Managing Partner and Chairman at Kearney, said: “The ingrained issue of gender bias unfortunately persists to this day. The gender pay gap was first brought to the world’s attention in the 1860s and we are still working in 2024 to address this critical issue. If we cannot come together and turn our efforts to addressing the gender health gap, we may also see 160 years pass before true health equity is reached. This is simply inconceivable, and it is the duty of everyone and every company to do their part. 

 

“Our open letter is intended to be another step in this staircase toward a truly equal system, but relies on large-scale coordination across various contributing factors and pain points to be effective. We must rethink our health systems with women at the front of mind to shape a fairer future, bolster the economy and workforce, and rebuild an unjust system to serve us all equally.” 

 

Kearney’s report and open letter, Redesigning healthcare with women in mind, were launched at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.  - TradeArabia News Service