Femtech Had Overall Funding Of Over $1 Bn, In The Last Few Years

Reenita Das, Senior VP & Partner, Transformational Health (Healthcare) Practice, Frost & Sullivan, speaks on the advances in femtech, its impact on womens health and future growth drivers and trends of the segment, in an exclusive interaction with Lakshmipriya Nair

- Lakshmipriya Nair

Despite huge unmet needs in women's health across the world why did it take so much time for this segment to emerge and gain recognition?

The delay in gaining recognition was primarily due to the industry’s focus on chronic diseases in the last five to six decades. It was only in this decade that the focus extended beyond cancer, cardiac diseases etc. to lesser fatal diseases that people were suffering since a long time, such as respiratory diseases, sleep disorders etc. This move brought focus on women’s health conditions, and thus to Femtech. Women’s per capita health expenditure in the US is 25 per cent more than the male per capita health expenditure. Globally, over the years, healthcare products and solutions were designed, developed, and delivered without recognising the need for differentiated care for men and women considering the fundamental differences in physical, physiological and psychological factors. Impact of this is particularly true in India where the disparity in healthcare delivery is high based on differences in gender, socio-economic status and regional divide, and this often puts healthcare delivery for women on the back foot. Science and technology has driven these changes as well.

Can you elaborate on the need for gender-specific healthcare and how femtech is enabling a more individualised approach to effectively serve women’s healthcare needs?