From Unmet Needs to Data-Driven Solutions: How Brands Are Transforming Women’s Health
- jlainabril
- Jun 25
- 3 min read
For decades, women’s health has been underserved, marked by delayed diagnoses, limited access to care, and products that often failed to reflect the realities of women’s lives and bodies. Today, a new wave of data-driven innovation is changing that narrative. Across Europe and beyond, businesses are harnessing deep customer insight, AI and data science to address real needs and close the historic gender health gap.
Women’s Health: Beyond Reproductive Health
Historically, research and product development have overlooked gender nuances, resulting in care that is often reactive, fragmented, or based on male models. Now, as women demand more agency and personalisation, the market is responding, fuelling a surge in solutions designed with women’s voices at the center.
Women’s health is not a siloed or niche category. It encompasses sex-specific conditions, diseases that affect women differently or disproportionately, and general health needs across the lifespan—from adolescence through menopause and beyond.
However, too often, women’s health is narrowly defined as sexual and reproductive health. In reality, this perspective dramatically underrepresents the true scope of women’s health needs. According to McKinsey, sexual and reproductive health accounts for only about 5% of the total global women’s health burden. The majority comes from conditions that are either exclusive to women (such as endometriosis, menopause and specific cancers), affect women disproportionately (like autoimmune diseases and migraines), or impact women differently than men (including cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis).
True impact in women’s health require a holistic, data-driven approach that goes far beyond reproductive care.
McKinsey’s recent global analysis highlights nine key conditions that together account for a third of the women’s health gap: ischaemic heart disease, cervical cancer, breast cancer, maternal hypertensive disorder, postpartum haemorrhage, menopause, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), migraine, and endometriosis. Five of these conditions limit women’s life span, while four impair health span, often causing significant distress and years lived with disability.
Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Solutions
Women spend, on average, 25% more time in poor health than men—a disparity that, if closed, could add over $1 trillion to the global economy annually by 2040 and give every woman an additional week of healthy life each year. Addressing these broader health needs is not just a matter of equity; it’s an economic and societal imperative.
With the era of information, AI and women empowerment, brands are listening to the needs of the 51% of the world population to create customer-centric solutions that address the gender health gap.
Personalised Diagnostics and Prevention. Innovators are using AI and real-world data to enable earlier, more accurate interventions
Hertility (UK). At-home hormone and fertility testing empowers women to proactively manage their reproductive health with science-backed, digital-first diagnostics.
Daye (UK). From CBD-infused tampons to at-home vaginal infection and STI testing, Daye’s ecosystem is built around customer feedback and a commitment to evidence-based, sustainable solutions.
Niramai Health Analytix (India). AI-powered, non-invasive breast cancer screening, making early detection accessible and affordable in diverse settings.
Empowering Everyday Health. Digital tools and wearables are giving women more control over their health journeys
Flo Health (UK/Lithuania). With nearly 70 million users, Flo’s AI-powered app supports women with cycle tracking, symptom monitoring, and tailored health insights, expanding into perimenopause and menopause support.
Leia (Sweden). Focuses on postpartum health, offering new mothers support for mental health and pelvic recovery through an accessible app.
Osteoboost (Switzerland). A vibration belt for osteoporosis and bone health for women.
Innovating for Life Stage and Lifestyle. Brands are targeting overlooked moments in women’s lives—like menopause, postpartum, and fertility preservation—with data-driven, practical products:
From Listening to Lasting Impact
The most transformative brands in women’s health are those that truly listen—collecting feedback, analysing real-world data, and co-designing solutions with women, not just for them. This customer-centric approach is not only improving outcomes but also building trust and loyalty in a market that has long been underserved.
Yet, addressing the full spectrum of women’s health needs goes beyond innovation alone. It requires genuine collaboration between healthcare providers, researchers, technologists, and women themselves. Only through cross-sector partnerships can brands scale impact, ensure inclusivity, and drive sustainable change.
Of course, challenges remain:
Ensuring data privacy and ethical use of health data
Mitigating algorithmic bias by building diverse, inclusive datasets
Bridging awareness and access gaps, especially for underrepresented groups
Navigating restricted online advertising for women’s health products and services (especially those related to reproductive health, sexual wellness, and sensitive conditions).
But the momentum is undeniable. As more brands center women’s real needs and use data to drive continuous innovation, the boundaries of what’s possible in health are being redrawn. The future of women’s health is collaborative, data-driven, and—most importantly—designed with women’s voices at its core.
