Hologic Global Women’s Health Index

On Yahoo Finance Live, September 24th 2021, Hologic’s CEO, Steven Mcmillan, presented the findings of the 2020 Global Women’s Health Index. Given that Hologic (Marlborough, MA) is a women’s health company focused on diagnostics and medical technology, they realized that “there’s so much talk about the need for better women’s health and I think intuitively we all know women’s health is an important issue and we should be doing more.”

Hologic partnered with Gallop (Washington, DC) to develop the Hologic Global Women’s Health Index as a multiyear, globally comparative survey of women’s health to provide a motivational catalyst for a change in women’s health. “What gets measured gets done!” The Index aggregates the interviews of 120,000 women and men in 116 countries and territories in more than 140 languages.

One alarming and key finding is that preventative care is globally neglected. The report highlights that 40% of women surveyed globally (~ 1.0 billion women) said they hadn’t seen a healthcare professional over the last year.Sixty-one percent (~ 1.5 billion women) did not get tested for any of the most damaging women’s diseases.

“Only 12% of the world’s women
last year were screened for any type of
cancer.”

Steven MacMillan also noted the disparities in women’s health care and diagnostics that are happening. For instance, South American and African countries lag behind Western European in healthcare and diagnostics. Huge disparities exist between rural versus urban areas, socio-economic groups, and ethnic groups in the US.

Steven MacMillan explained that he hopes that the survey’s results will open discussions with health ministers and the political leadership around the world.  Governments can examine their healthcare policies and then partner with the medical communities for implementation. Governments can also establish guidelines and then measure if their policies are effective. This will allow a better understanding of the implantation barriers that need addressing.

The 2021 research for Hologic Global Women’s Health Index is currently ongoing.