The market for innovative women’s healthcare solutions is growing rapidly. According to Rock Health, femtech companies raised $1.3 bln in the first 9 months of 2021 compared to $774 mln in 2020. Experts predict that the femtech market will grow to $57-65 bln by 2027.
New technologies have long been helping women solve many health-related problems, such as period, fertility, menopause, pregnancy, and so on. Moreover, new products are emerging today that combat chronic gynecological diseases and help women survive menopausal symptoms. Let’s look at the solutions for women’s health to look out for in 2023.
The above-mentioned Rock Health identified 8 sectors in which femtech companies are operating. There are:
- Pregnancy, postpartum, and parenthood support
- Primary and preventive care
- Fertility support
- Sexual and reproductive care
- Chronic disease care
- Perimenopause and menopause care
- Menstruation care
- Behavioral health
It’s time to explore the women’s healthcare solutions presented in these groups.
Pregnancy, postpartum, and parenthood support solutions
This group includes various products that help pregnant women and first-time parents in various situations. These are pregnancy calendars,contraction calculators, baby push trackers, baby diaries, white noise apps for babies, baby monitors, and many others. According to a study, over 50% of pregnant women use pregnancy apps.
For example, Pregnancy + (iOS/Android) is one of the popular apps for expectant moms that allows them to observe the development of the baby through interactive 3D models. The app contains detailed articles about pregnancy by weeks. They help a pregnant woman find out what happens to her body at each stage of pregnancy.
New technologies won’t leave a woman after the birth of a child. Thus, baby trackers allow new parents to record feeding time, sleep duration, diaper changes, physical and emotional development of the baby. All these solutions are popular nowadays. Grand View Research, Inc. predicts that the global pregnancy tracking and postpartum care apps market will grow to $874.8 mln by 2030.
Primary and preventive care
Unfortunately, the modern rhythm of life makes women forget about their health. By the way, it’s very important to have annual check-ups, blood tests, calculate calories, measure blood pressure, blood sugar, take meds in time, work out and play sports, and so on. All these activities help women identify diseases at an early stage.
For example, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall. There were about 287,850 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the USA in 2022. To solve this problem, iBreastExam was created, which can recognize non-palpable breast lumps in just a few minutes without pain and radiation. One of the advantages of this device is the low cost of the diagnostic procedure, as well as fast and reliable results, which makes it possible to use it in poor countries.
Fertility support
These are solutions that help women track their menstrual period and ovulation. Fertility apps make calculations, predicting favorable days for impregnation, ovulation, when to expect the next period. For example, Kindara Fertility builds charts in the form of different color-coded visuals based on the data entered. They show whether a woman has reproductive health problems. The app supports other devices, such as a digital thermometer that continuously monitors temperature and adds data automatically.
Another interesting solution is a multi-touch bracelet developed by Ava Women. The gadget allows women to determine the period of maximum fertility while sleeping. It monitors five different parameters to define the most favorable period for ovulation.
Sexual and reproductive care
This section includes solutions that help women manage their sexual and reproductive health, as well as fight infertility. According to WHO, about 48 million couples and 186 million people worldwide suffer from infertility. Unfortunately, the number of infertile people is increasing every year. This problem can be solved with the help of artificial insemination and other technologies. However, only about a third of interventions turn out to be successful.
It’s believed that artificial intelligence and machine learning can help infertile couples become parents. Apps and software based on machine learning algorithms and AI will be able to analyze data sets, accurately evaluate biomaterial for in vitro fertilization, and predict the outcome of artificial insemination taking into account the data of married couples.
For instance, Weill Cornell Medicine developed an AI algorithm that can accurately determine the potential of a 5-day-old human embryo to achieve a successful pregnancy. After training and testing, the AI was able to identify the quality of the embryos with an accuracy of 97%. The developers believe that this solution will be able to increase the success of in vitro fertilization and reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies.
Chronic disease care
This group includes products that help women manage their health and control their chronic diseases. Up to 45% of women suffer from certain chronic diseases, such as PCOS, endometriosis, autoimmune diseases, and hormonal disorders. Each year, they spend $1,000 to $3,000 to treat their symptoms. Mobile apps offer women to track the trend and dynamics of the disease, which is useful when drawing up a treatment regimen. Research shows that apps reduce the burden on the healthcare system and improve the quality of patients’ lives.
For example, many women suffer from Hashimoto’s disease. This is a chronic autoimmune disease that is the main cause of thyroid insufficiency. The Hashiona app helps them achieve remission with a 5-month scientific step-by-step approach. It was created by Eva Galant, who herself suffers from this disease. She quit her stressful job and changed her lifestyle, which helped her reduce the symptoms of hypothyroidism. The app includes information on thyroid function and stress management, as well as provides exercises, diet, and access to online consultations with experts.
Perimenopause and menopause care
This sector includes solutions to help women get through the menopause, which is accompanied by extreme mood swings, fatigue, weight gain, insomnia, headaches, urinary problems, hot flashes, and so on. All of these symptoms can be controlled using a variety of gadgets and programs, such as weight loss apps, odometers, guides, women’s calendars, and menopause trackers.
Caria is a mobile app that helps women keep track of menopause-related body changes. They can communicate with an AI-powered chatbot that provides information about the symptoms and determines the current stage of the menopause. By analyzing the data, the app selects personal recommendations regarding nutrition, lifestyle, and sports.
Menstruation care
As the name suggests, this group includes period control solutions. They allow women to track various health indicators, such as the possibility of pregnancy, pregnancy symptoms, body mass index, mucus and cervical opening, as well as temperature or mood in order to maintain well-being and good health. Some apps can remind you to take medications, vitamins, contraceptives, as well as allow you to send data to your doctor if necessary.
Flo, one of the most popular period tracking apps, calculates safe and favorable days for conception, as well as the days of the next periods. This is an artificial intelligence-based solution that tracks information about the quality of sleep, the level of sexual activity, psychological state, reminds you of periods and ovulation, taking contraceptives, creates detailed reports, as well as provides various medical articles.
Behavioral health
Numerous studies show that women are more prone to depression than men. This is explained by their more mobile nervous system, pronounced emotionality, as well as hormonal levels. The US National Institute of Mental Health found that about 20% of women have experienced at least one episode of depression in their lifetime.
Modern technologies help women monitor their psychological state and improve it. For example, Happify tracks mood and emotional well-being, analyzes dynamics and identifies catalyststhat cause negative emotions. Based on a detailed questionnaire, the application helps you work out psychological problems by means of simple exercises in a playful way. In general, the solution allows women to improve their quality of life, monitor their habits, and set goals to achieve success.
Bottom Line
Women’s healthcare solutions are very popular today. If you want to create a similar product, it’s the right time to do so now. There is a huge pool of different applications from period trackers to mental care products. Regardless of the type of software, they should be user-friendly, responsive, have an attractive design and be secure. What’s more, you should think about security in the first instance in order to protect your users and their personal data.
JMIR mHealth Uhealth found that many popular women’s healthcare mobile apps don’t meet basic data privacy and security standards. They share users’ personal data with third parties without proper notice. This violates various rules, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and others.
Our specialists developed a lot of healthcare solutions that fully comply with all international regulations. They will be happy to share their experience and knowledge with you, as well as answer all your questions regarding security, design, development process, team, cost, and much more.
