How data and innovation can reduce health inequalities in women's health

The purpose of an effective health system is not only to improve the health of the population but to achieve equality in health.?Gendered health inequalities have a detrimental impact on population health and also affect economies. Reducing inequalities leads to increased productivity and long-term income. While the COVID-19 pandemic?threatened everyone’s health, its impact has been different for men and women. Women have faced higher exposure to the virus and stress-induced mental health challenges, as they make up the majority of frontline healthcare workers.

Minna Hendolin, Health Data specialist at SITRA shares how data and personalised healthcare can play a vital role in creating solutions that tackle gender health inequalities.

1.?????In your view what and where are the biggest gender health inequalities in Europe?

Men and women are simply different - mentally, physically, and biologically.?These differences are not adequately or accurately reflected in healthcare. Too often, women’s health has been considered a niche area – even though it involves roughly 50% of the population. In Europe, cardiovascular diseases continue to comprise a major part of the overall disease burden for women, Rates of mental ill-health are increasing amongst women throughout the Region and across all ages. High levels of depression and anxiety among adolescent girls in Europe is of particular concern. Women are also more likely to report long-standing illnesses or health problems more often than men. One of the biggest challenges is maintaining health across women’s lifespans, particularly for older women. Europe has the largest aging population in the world. This population is predominantly female, and the numbers are growing. The impact of ageing on women is a huge challenge and there are a lot of physical and mental things that need to be considered.?

2.?????How is health data helping to reduce gender health inequalities and reengineer future healthcare so that it’s more women-centered?

The shift to healthcare becoming more personalised will increase equality in general, not only in terms of gender. Data makes problems more visible and allows a more holistic picture of the state of women's health and their healthcare needs. Using this data, we can predict or even prevent diseases and tailor services whether they are health or social care services based on actual needs. We know that women play a big role, not just taking care of their own health, but looking after their family’s healthcare needs too. We therefore need to ensure that they have the right tools - data, apps, and platforms- to address their unique healthcare needs across the whole lifespan.??

3.?????What are the priorities to help achieve gender health equality from a pan-European perspective and at a country level??

Strong foundations and good technical infrastructure are essential to provide high-quality, timely data. To ensure gender equality and build sustainable healthcare systems we need a strong system for data governance and robust ground rules for data extraction. We must ensure that health data is high quality and that it can be useful for further purposes. We must understand the data that we are talking about. This requires a joint vision and dialogue.

4. What is preventing the potential of health data from being fully realised and what can be done about it?

As Europe continues to deal with the pandemic fallout, there is also huge pressure to find better, and more efficient ways to deliver care. Reducing backlog and targeting health services and prevention activities to women who are most in need should be a priority. Tackling these challenges requires health systems to make use of all the tools and data at their disposal. While women comprise the majority of the frontline health workforce, they remain the minority in health leadership. The concentration of health leadership amongst males has created enormous blind spots and perpetuated homogeneous thinking. The complexity of our health landscape demands that diverse ideas and perspectives are fully harnessed. Innovation efforts have not always been aligned with public health needs. Data and data-driven innovation are part of this solution to support the transformation of health and care particularly for women.?