Your Health, Your Power: Closing the Women’s Health Gap This World Health Day
This World Health Day, we’re reflecting on an urgent issue: women live in poor health for 25% longer than men [1]. This isn’t just a statistic—it’s a reality we’re working to change. As a company committed to improving women’s health through groundbreaking research and diagnostics, we know the health challenges women face are often overlooked or misunderstood. Conditions like menopause, PMS, migraine, and endometriosis impact millions of women worldwide, but they remain under-researched, underfunded, and often dismissed [2].
It’s time to close the women’s health gap, and this World Health Day, we’re advocating for better care, better research, and better solutions for all women.
What Is the Women’s Health Gap?
The women’s health gap refers to the disparities in health outcomes and access to healthcare services that women experience compared to men. This gap exists due to a combination of historical neglect in medical research, socioeconomic factors, and systemic biases in healthcare delivery [3]. These factors often result in women receiving lower quality care, delayed diagnoses, and a lack of research focused on conditions that disproportionately affect women.
Many women have experienced the frustration of being dismissed or misdiagnosed by healthcare professionals. Whether it’s unexplained pain, unrecognized symptoms, or the dismissal of conditions as “just part of being a woman,” this is the women’s health gap we’re fighting to address. It’s not only about access to care—it’s about improving the quality of care and making sure women’s health conditions are taken seriously.
Key examples of conditions disproportionately affecting women include:
Menopause: Over 450 million women worldwide are navigating menopause, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and other long-term health issues. Yet, research and clinical care often fail to match the scale of its impact.
PMS: While PMS affects up to 40% of women and causes a significant loss of workdays (up to 23 per year), it remains underappreciated in both clinical research and daily life.
Endometriosis: With 1 in 10 women affected and years often required for a diagnosis, endometriosis remains one of the most poorly understood conditions, despite its significant health and economic burden.
These conditions, and many others, are often overlooked in clinical studies, leaving millions of women without the research and diagnostic tools they need for better health outcomes. This is where we come in.
The Role of Research and Innovation in Closing the Women’s Health Gap
At theblood, we are dedicated to helping close the gender data gap in health research. By developing a menstrual blood test, we aim to provide crucial health insights for women. By unlocking the diagnostic potential of menstrual blood, we plan to gather data that enhances our understanding of women’s health, which could improve diagnostics and help address conditions like endometriosis, PMS, and menopause. This research is not just about providing better diagnostics; it’s about generating the data needed to create solutions that can make a meaningful impact on women’s health.
[Read more about what we at theblood are doing HERE].
Our work is rooted in the belief that more research and better diagnostics will not only improve health outcomes for women but also contribute to closing the global $400 billion women’s health opportunity gap.
What Can You Do to Help Close the Gap?
Change starts with us. As a community, we need to advocate for more research, more education, and better healthcare for women. Here’s how we can all contribute to closing the women’s health gap:
Speak Up for Better Healthcare: If you’re experiencing symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, don’t hesitate to seek out second opinions and advocate for more thorough investigations into your condition.
Support Research and Innovation: Support companies and initiatives that are working to close the gender data gap and make women’s health a priority. By funding research and driving innovation, we can create better diagnostic tools and treatments for conditions that affect women.
Raise Awareness: Help educate others on women’s health issues. The more we talk about it, the more we’ll push for change.
Why Your Health Matters
As a woman, your health isn’t just about feeling better in the moment—it’s about shaping your future and the future of generations to come. By focusing on improving women’s health, we’re not just addressing individual issues; we’re creating a ripple effect that will benefit entire communities and economies. Prioritizing women’s health is a long-term investment in the future.
This World Health Day, let’s commit to making that investment—by demanding better healthcare, better research, and better care for women everywhere.
Our Commitment to Women’s Health
As part of our mission to improve women's health, we are continuing to innovate and develop tools that empower women with better health information. A menstrual blood test is a step toward unlocking new insights and providing women with the personalized care they deserve. Together, we can close the gap and transform women’s health for the better.
