The UK healthcare system is currently failing women. The outcome of this failure is not just fixed within clinical outcomes but also has an impact on women’s societal and economic roles in the UK. A culture of shame, stigma, and taboo solidified over decades ensures that women are disempowered to discuss debilitating and life-affecting conditions in all aspects of their lives. With current policy and legislation providing little to no support when women do raise their voices.
The report outlines evidence for this statement as well as providing recommendations and current data from a roundtable discussion held with experts from across the female health, wellness and technology spaces.
Introduction
The UK Government established a consultation for its new Women’s Health Strategy with the aim of improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls in England.
They acknowledged a need for a greater focus on women’s health and the need for more evidence to do this. The government’s Call for Evidence sought views on 6 core themes that connect different areas of women’s health across the life course. These include:
- Women’s voices
- Information and education on women’s health
- Women’s health across the life course
- Women’s health in the workplace
- Research, evidence and data
- Impacts of COVID-19 on women’s health
This report is a response to the Government’s calls for written submissions from individuals and organisations who have expertise in women’s health.
FemTech Lab
As Europe’s first accelerator which focuses solely on female specific health issues and emerging health spaces that recognise gender specific healthcare, wellness & mental health, FemTech Lab felt equipped to support this contribution.
Over the past decade we have seen the FemTech sector grow and at the same time have seen FemTech’s impact on many parts of female health, from; improving women and girls health through technological innovation, improving clinical research and scientific knowledge within the field of women’s health; destigmatising taboos and myths around women and girl’s health, and most importantly, placing women’s health at the centre stage of investment, technology and science.
Understanding the power FemTech has to improve women’s health, FemTech Lab brought experts from across the FemTech space in a roundtable event on 7th June 2021 to gather diverse evidence for the UK Government’s six core themes.
Discussion Topics
The team of experts FemTech Lab brought together discussed the following questions in order to gather the relevant and detailed evidence for the consultation:
- How have women’s voices been overlooked, ignored or disempowered within clinical settings, the healthcare system and health more generally?
- What are the barriers affecting women’s access to information, knowledge and empowerment in relation to their health concerns?
- What opportunities and innovation could meet the under-explored and unmet needs of women and girls?
- What are the ways in which women’s ability to participate in the workforce is affected by their health?
- How does medical and health-based research neglect or overlook the needs of women?
You can read our full contribution by clicking the download link below.
