Menopause is still a Taboo:
Around 47 million women experience menopause each year and by 2030, the world population of menopausal and postmenopausal women is projected to increase to 1.2 billion! While Menopause is a natural process, many behavioral, psychological and physical changes happen during menopause which can adversely affect women, their health and their lifestyle.
To help women manage these problems, there is a dedicated segment of menopausal care that many women can benefit from! But because of the stigma around the topic, studies reveal that women don’t seek medical help even though they need it!
For instance, the following are some of the Menopause Care statistics from the US:
Only 1 in 5 women in the U.S. receive a referral to a menopause specialist and out of that, only 60% of women seek medical attention. Moreover, of the women who seek help women 75% are left untreated!
While one could argue that Menopause is not that major of a problem and that there are other non-medical ways to deal with the phase of life, studies show that in the U.S. 4 out of every 10 women said menopause symptoms interfered with their work performance and 17% of women said they had to quit the job or considered quitting due to menopause symptoms!
The FemTech Solution- tackle patient behavior with Design-led engineering, virtual care devices and platforms!
While Menopause is no longer a hush-hush taboo, lack of resources and privacy are still resulting in care reservations and negligence. To tackle this problem and to encourage women to take the right steps towards Menopausal care, FemTech converted patient bottlenecks into new ways of care delivery with design-led engineering of virtual care devices, SaMD and platforms.
Medical Devices for Menopause Care:
While there are many different kinds of medical devices available in the market for menopause care along with some SaMD solutions to manage symptoms such as Hot Flushes and others for menopause tracking, to ensure users adapt to these devices and make them a part of their day-to-day routine, FemTech innovators accessorized their devices for women!
Although the devices were medical grade and had FDA clearances, they were designed as accessories such as Bracelets, Earrings, Rings and other such designs. With such designs, FemTech innovators ensured that women got the required medical treatment and continuous monitoring and that too in the most discreet way possible. While users wore the devices for Menopausal care and monitoring, for others it was just a stylish and fashion accessory that women wear in their day-to-day lives!
Menopause Care Platforms:
On one hand where devices are being accessorized, the menopause care platforms are designed for virtual care, support and communities for women! Right from doctor’s consultations to documentation for menopause care, pelvic physiotherapy sessions to online support communities and helplines for queries around menopause, the entire care ecosystem was established virtually so that women can seek help from the safety and comfort of their homes.
User-centricity is the key to MedTech innovation:
It is because of the FemTech innovators’ user-centric approach and design-led engineering, that they were not only able to increase patient adaptation of care systems, but they were also able to break the stigma around Menopause and help women live a healthy and normal life while they deal with Menopause.
