Most of the women residing in urban India are leading a lifestyle, often on an auto-pilot mode which involves multitasking round the clock, almost throughout the week. Their schedules and latent or dominant stress levels are collectively giving a new dimension to the physiological and biological changes that affect the core of their hormone health.
This scenario got amplified with the arrival of the pandemic in 2020 and made us sit up to take notice of an underlying and less prioritised arena concerning their mental and emotional state. For women playing varied roles as caretakers, professional and household managers in an uncertain environment have not been easy. Even in the post-pandemic times, they swiftly continue to adapt whenever an unforeseen challenge comes their way while juggling with the demands of their greater care responsibilities. This happens irrespective of the emotional or hormonal phase they may be undergoing at that very point of time.
It came as no surprise when a global study (Mental Health Index U.S. Worker Edition 2021) cited 83% of women have experienced a considerable increase in depression as compared to 36% of men.
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Women constitute 43% of the internet audience base standing at a figure of 260 million in India. We have witnessed a whopping 61% growth in female users as compared to their male counterparts. More than 150 million women are also making purchases online and this number continues to double every year. Does it still come as a surprise that this very segment continues to battle issues pertaining to their hormonal health and wellness?
It’s time to pause for a moment to understand their top concern areas before assessing steps which can be taken at an institutional level to address specific roadblocks.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
The global PCOS market which stood at $3.9B in 2019, is growing at a CAGR of 8.63% from 2021 onwards. This pegs the current market at $4.4B (Source- The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 107, Issue 5, May 2022). In India, the prevalence of PCOS is much higher than the global average. While globally, the prevalence of PCOS is estimated to be between 5.5% - 12.6% amongst women in the age group of 17–45 years, in India, estimates rank it between 8.2% and 22.5% depending on the diagnostic criteria used (Source- Prevalence of PCOS among adolescents and young women in India, Journal of Diabetology). An estimated 70M women suffer from PCOS in India alone.
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stress
Menstrual Issues
Even while the number of women suffering from menstrual problems had decreased with progressing age across the country, as per the results of a large-scale survey conducted pan India, about 23 percent of women aged between 20-29 years suffered from menstrual problems in 2020. Discarded menstrual hygiene products are categorised as ‘dry municipal waste’ under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. As per the 2018 report by WaterAid India and Menstrual Hygiene Alliance India (MHAI), there are 336 million menstruating women in India, out of which only 121 million end up using sanitary pads; with close to 71 million facing Irregular Menstruation and Period related issues.
Fertility and Preconception
As per the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), about 15% of couples of reproductive age experience Infertility in India (Source- AIIMS Report). A study conducted by Inito, a Bangalore-based medical technology company cited a whooping figure of 27.5 million couples suffering from infertility in India as of 2018.
Thyroidism
About 42 million people in India suffer from Hypothyroidism. 25% of women are far more prone to experience Thyroidism as compared to 0.6% of men.
Women’s bodies and hormone health is unique and different from men and unfortunately, science and medicine have largely neglected female health. A simple look at these numbers and data is a clear indication of the hormonal health burden among Indian women. A relatively large segment of women continue to face roadblocks in their quest to access healthcare resources while amongst the diagnosed cases, a substantial number of women remain undiagnosed. The root cause of lack of diagnosis lies in the fact that despite reporting high frequencies of debilitating pain, women are less likely to be treated for it and their symptoms are so often expressed as psychosomatic. Additionally, in our country, there are taboos associated with open discussions around women-specific matters like menstruation, menstrual hygiene and hormonal health.
The best way the industry can help improve awareness and change the state of care for women is by solving the misinformation, stigma and lack of awareness around women and hormone health.
Efforts need to be made to inch closer toward gender equity in health for which it is important that women are empowered to take charge of their own overall health. Corporate organisations should discuss more health issues amongst their women employees and initiate focused conversations about their health, hormones and physiology.
FemTech digital platforms and mobile apps making use of technology infrastructure to cater to women’s specific health and wellness needs is a step in the desired direction. These players are steadily discussing mental and hormone health issues in the public sphere. We can’t afford to delay efforts toward raising consistent awareness about sustainable menstruation. Biodegradable sanitary napkins, reusable cloth napkins, menstrual underwear, and menstrual cups are all a step in the right direction.
Acting as a woman’s wellness buddy, new age FemTech entities are offering curated programmes and personalised plans by expert nutritionists, fitness coaches, psychologists and dermatologists. These are steps which can greatly help women address their specific issues starting from the menstrual till the menopause phase. The most important thing is to remember that collectively the ecosystem needs to help women become more aware of certain irregularities which may be happening in their bodies and help them address any root cause before the disease or anomaly reaches its malignant stage.
By acknowledging and teaching our young children about the physiological differences in gender, we can empower young girls to understand their menstrual and hormone health and hone their physiology to work in the favour of their overall well-being.
Ekta Tibrewal is the co-founder of Savage. The views expressed are the author's own.
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