Busting the myths around menstrual blood:
For generations, menstrual blood has been wrongly stigmatized as dirty blood or bad blood and it has been associated with many societal prejudices. In 2022 United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) with WASH United said that 500 million women and girls didn’t have the things they needed to manage their periods safely, and hygienically. It was also observed that often women are shamed and embarrassed for menstruating. (Source)
Women’s healthcare needs have long been ignored and up until 2014, it was not even a priority! For instance, when Apple Health went live in 2014, senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi told users of their iPhone, “You can monitor all of the metrics that you’re most interested in.” But these metrics did not include period tracking!
Menstrual Blood and FemTech- the cornerstone of understanding women’s health:
FemTech industry with its overall women’s health revolution is also destigmatizing the taboos around menstrual blood. Not only are there many FemTech initiatives around educating women about their period cycle tracking, but menstrual blood has become a new goldmine of information about a woman’s health and well-being!
From solving problems of sleep disorders and hot flashes during menopause to helping women attain peak performance and health hacks of an active lifestyle with period tracking, FemTech is changing the narrative around Menstruation.
To understand how FemTech is changing the perspective around menstruation, here are 8 outstanding FemTech companies and their use cases around Menstruation:
Health Tracking
- Truelli:
Truelli is the world’s first Menstrual pad that can scan your health! All women have to do is wear Truelli menstrual pad on their heaviest day of period, scan the back of the pad before disposing the pad and track vitals such as:
- B12 levels
- Vitamin D deficiencies
- Cervical Cancer triggers
- Hormonal Health
- Possible STDs
- Qvin:
Qvin is the first and only FDA-cleared menstrual pad scientifically proven to collect blood for lab testing. With the use of biomarkers and use of Qvin application, the pad can be used to collect menstrual blood and send it to the lab for personalized health data around:
- Hemoglobin A1C (currently available to measure blood sugar)
- Upcoming biomarkers:
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (Thyroid Health)
- C-Reactive Protein (levels of inflammation)
- Anti-mullerian hormone (For fertility and peri-menopause)
- Follicle Stimulating Hormone (Ovulation health)
- Luteinising Hormone (Indicates menstrual health)
- High-Risk Human Papillomavirus (For Cervical Cancer)
Active Lifestyle:
- Davinci Wearables:
Intending to make period cycles a superpower for women, DaVinci Wearables tracks period cycles, bloating, and crucial aspects of female body physiology to provide women with valuable data that enables peak performance!
With an AI-powered analytics engine designed for women, Davinci provides insights into bodily changes during crucial life phases, using activewear that connects to the Davinci platform.
By integrating various wearables with their smart clothing, they deliver health outcomes actionable insights, and adaptive coaching.
- Femometer:
With menstrual health at the center of their offerings, the Femometer Smart Ring allows women to track various aspects of women’s health such as:
- Conception/ovulation health
- Menstrual or period health information
- Sleep tracking
- General Health Tracking
They have created a smart ring that women are supposed to wear while they sleep and the ring collects data continuously overnight. The data can be synced with the app in the morning and it provides instant insights into cycle health.
Menopausal Care:
- Elo care:
With the help of their ecosystem of the wearable, app and a platform, Elo Care provides an easy and effective way to record and interpret body data that can be shared with doctors to make informed decisions regarding menopause health.
- Thermaband:
With continuously monitoring wearable Zone and Thermaband Zone app, Thermaband is helping women manage their menopausal symptoms and also understand their menopausal journey.
The Zone Device is designed to provide safe, discreet soothing warm, or cool sensations on demand. These sensations are automated and can also be manual to manage hot flashes, cold flashes, or night sweats.
The Thermaband Zone App is designed to obtain menopausal insights and build a community that empowers women and clinicians to advance menopause healthcare with information such as:
- Frequency of discomforts during menopause
- Duration of hot or cold flashes
- Menopause problem triggers identification
Reproductive Health:
- Ovu First:
OvuFirst is a wearable fertility solution from viO HealthTech with their OvuFirst tracking device and OvuSense platform. The device is meant to be worn overnight and then the data will be synced with their OvuSense app. By understanding your ovulation patterns, OvuFirst will provide a full 8-day fertile window at the start of each cycle based on what the device learns about women’s unique patterns.
- Ava Fertility:
Hailed as the first and only FDA-cleared wearable fertility tracker in the US market, Ava is a wearable bracelet that women can wear to bed and sync the data into the application. With the use of physiological signals, the Ava fertility tracker identifies the menstrual phase that the user is in.
It also tracks health parameters like temperature, sleep, physiological stress, and resting pulse rate. With all these vitals tracked, it helps users determine the 5-day fertile window to conceive a baby.
FemTech’s Menstruation tracking- a transition from a stigma to becoming the landscape of women’s healthcare:
With the use of medical devices, device companion apps, platforms, and support communities, FemTech is transforming the stigma around menstruation while simultaneously crafting a future where menstruation is given its due significance and used to understand women’s healthcare batter and to transform the care for women.
ALSO READ: FemTech is not just a MedTech Category but an industry of its own!
