World Health Day | Leveraging technology to bridge gaps in women’s health

Men and women share a fundamental humanity, but their differences go beyond physical or biological traits. Societal roles and power dynamics have shaped women’s health for centuries. Although women experience greater freedoms and empowerment today, healthcare systems still face challenges in meeting their unique needs. This is not just an oversight; it has tangible consequences.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute lends credence to this fact. It revealed that though women lived longer than men, more than 25% of their lives were spent in poor health. Addressing this disparity could add seven healthy days per year for each woman. Women’s health requires a meticulous approach that considers their needs by leveraging technological innovations. 

Indian perspective

India has made progress in terms of improving women’s health and quality of life through several government initiatives. As a result, the maternal mortality rate has reduced to 97 per 100,000 live births, and the infant mortality rate has also decreased significantly. 

However, some challenges need to be urgently addressed. For instance, the country faces a large burden of breast cancer, which accounts for 28.2% of all cancers in women. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among them, with a five-year prevalence of 18.8%. Furthermore, disparities in care due to the urban-rural divide and the limited availability of quality healthcare services make these challenges more acute.

Leveraging technology 

Technology will continue to fuel the engine of progress, providing innovative solutions to these challenges. From enhancing patient-centricity to creating integrated care pathways, here are some ways it can transform women’s healthcare:

• • • Addressing women’s unique needs: Two out of three women die of non-communicable diseases, accounting for almost 19 million deaths globally every year, highlighting the urgent need for personalised medicine. As healthcare institutions shift to a value-based model, it is important to tailor treatments to achieve optimal outcomes. Technology can help in creating a system that addresses women’s health needs by addressing the growing burden of NCDs and chronic diseases by not just providing an accurate diagnosis but even determining the likelihood of an individual developing specific diseases. 
    • Focussing on precision medicine: Unlike a one-size-fits-all approach, precision medicine helps healthcare providers deliver the right treatment at the right time for every patient. This is especially important in the case of women and involves a four-pronged approach:

      1. Improving diagnostic accuracy:  Diagnostics accuracy through integrated systems that use state-of-the-art technologies to make each diagnosis a precise and systematic process 
      2. Reducing unnecessary variations: Eliminating variations in diagnosis by analysing vast amounts of data using intelligent tools to provide clinical decision-making support
      3. Personalised data: Using comprehensive patient data instead of genetic makeup alone to treat each patient as a unique individual 
      4. Advanced therapies: Utilising advanced therapies such as robotics and imaging techniques to carry out minimally invasive procedures

    • Integrating advanced imaging: The scope of medical imaging has grown in scale, moving from just diagnosis to prevention and therapy. Advanced imaging techniques that integrate AI and machine learning provide clinically relevant and actionable information that can expand precision medicine and transform care delivery. For example, digital mammography systems are more sensitive and specific as compared to traditional mammography, thereby improving detection and reducing false positives. 
    • Creating end-to-end models of care: Even though 69% of the population of the country resides in rural areas, 73% of public hospital beds are concentrated in urban areas. Moreover, the lack of access to timely and quality care results in poor outcomes such as miscarriages, unsafe abortions, and stillbirths.6 In this context, the guiding principle behind healthcare systems should be providing end-to-end care, irrespective of the patient’s location. This can be achieved by expanding access, delivering decentralised care, and creating smart interconnected networks between patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. For instance, a hub and spoke model can link full-fledged primary facilities to provide specialised care and smaller secondary establishments that provide supportive care such as screening, diagnosis, and follow-up services. 

Women’s health is an essential component of development, one that needs to be addressed with priority. Technology and innovation are necessary to create systems of care that understand women and their nuanced healthcare needs. This requires collaboration between multiple stakeholders to increase funding, create robust infrastructure, and formulate standardised care frameworks. On this World Health Day, let us pledge to give women a healthy beginning and a hopeful future.

—The author, Hariharan Subramanian, is Managing Director, Siemens Healthcare Pvt Ltd. The views are personal.   

(Edited by : Unnikrishnan)