Issue 8: Davina McCall's Pill Revolution; the new British Standard for workplaces; and FemTech news
Your women's health and FemTech weekly wrap-up including: Davina's pill revolution, world-first endo breakthrough, taboo-busting period campaigns and the new British Standard for workplaces.
Hi, welcome to issue 8 of FutureFemHealth, the newsletter that brings you a weekly dose of news and inspiration about innovation in women’s health and FemTech.
I’m Anna and whether you’re a founder, an investor, someone who works in women’s health / FemTech or are simply a fan, I’m glad you’re here to join me.
It’s been a huge couple of weeks for women’s health and FemTech…
We’ve seen a new British Standard introduced for menstruation and menopause, several taboo-busting campaigns about periods, and a world-first breakthrough in endometriosis. Find out more about all of those in today’s issue.
But let’s start with ‘Pill Revolution’, the Davina McCall documentary on Channel 4 which aired last week. You’ll remember her groundbreaking programmes on menopause from last year when in just a month since airing, there were reports that demand for HRT soared by 30%.
Could ‘the Davina effect’ do similar for contraception? I think we’ll see more mainstream conversation about the different contraceptive methods available, the importance of personalised decision-making and women feeling more empowered with information to ask for pain-relief, alternative contraceptives etc etc. (Whether that’s all possible for the NHS to deliver remains to be seen).
The broader point made in the documentary is the call for more investment into women’s health research. As the producer Kate Muir wrote in The Guardian:
“We realised [for the documentary] we needed a survey to fill the black hole in medical research and discover what women actually experienced. The results from over 4,000 replies were gobsmacking: 77% of women said they had side-effects on the pill.”
Did you watch the documentary? Do you think this is the start of a ‘pill revolution’? Let me know in the comments!
🌟 General news
👩🏽💻 The AI revolution can put patients at the centre of the NHS. A rally-cry for more innovation in healthcare from Chair of The Times Health Commission, Rachel Sylvester. What a gutter-punch of a last paragraph: “Technology is a threat to the medical establishment because it will turn the relationship between doctor and patient on its head, allowing people to take back control over their own health. That is also why it is such a huge opportunity.” (The Times)
👀 NHS data breach: trusts shared patient details with Facebook without consent An important article to read if you currently use the Facebook (Meta) pixel on your website for marketing purposes. And if you don’t know if you do, find out and then check that your t&cs and privacy policy match up to what the pixel is collecting and sharing! (The Guardian)
🚪Perceptions of digital access get worse Patients and providers see the "digital front door" as still being a less-than-ideal entry point into healthcare, according to a new Experian Health report. (Fierce Healthcare)
🩸 Bodyform UK launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the words that social media bans when it comes to women’s health and anatomy. More info on Bodyform’s website here.
🩸 Fertility, reproductive health and period care news
🩸 The pill’s effects on women can be devastating. We need better information now. More on the Pill Revolution documentary - here’s an interesting read from the TV Producer behind the programme. (The Guardian)
🛑 Pharma giant Bayer launched a new ‘Seeing Red’ campaign to raise awareness of heavy menstrual bleeding and its solution - the Mirena Coil (MMM-Online)
✅ Australian researchers make world-first endometriosis breakthrough (The Guardian)
✏️ Reproductive Justice Initiative launches campaign to make the contraceptive patch more inclusive in design (Change.org)
🔥 ‘Just do kegels’ is tired. What’s next for this hot women’s health market? Demand for pelvic health information is rising, but is there enough accessible care? (LA Times)
📌 Menopause
📈 New workplace standards for menopause and menstruation support are launched Great news for women in the workplace and great news for any FemTech start-up that sells a product / service to workplaces as an employee benefit (Sky News)
🌎 The North American Menopause Society has released its 2023 guidelines for the different non-hormonal therapies to manage hot flushes and / or night sweats. Read this brilliant commentary on the guidelines’ limitations from Dr Jen Gunter.
✅ Taking a responsible approach to menopause marketing. The menopause market is huge, and new products and services should be celebrated - but must be authentic and based on insight (Campaign Middle East)
❤️ Hello Heart joins other digital health players taking on menopause as overlooked market gains attention Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the US, and risk factors increase post-menopause, so its great to see this addition from Hello Heart.(Fierce Healthcare)
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That’s all for now. Until next time,
Anna