It's not politics: Medical industry rethinking approach to women's health care

NEW YORK CITY—Women's health care is a right, not a political bent.

Women's health care also is completely unique, requiring adaptive medical technology rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

And too often, the latter is the tack adopted by medical component and tooling manufacturers, according to Marissa Fayer, founder and CEO of HERhealthEQ, a New York City-based non-profit "dedicated to improving the health and well-being of women by providing essential medical equipment to developing economies around the world."

"Women's health is global health," Fayer told Rubber News following her keynote presentation June 13, the first day of the MD&M (Medical Device and Manufacturing) East exposition at the Javits Center along the Hudson River.

The conference drew more than 300 exhibitors and hundreds more attendees June 13-15.

"Health care is a right for women … this is not a political statement, but a fact," Fayer said. "It's like this lectern, which at five-foot-three, I am not going to use because it was designed for a man.

"And unfortunately, we do not always develop medical technology for women."

Such development is beginning to occur, Fayer said, offering a slide on her Power Point presentation that depicted the rudimentary tools still used today in women's health.

"We were in the stone ages in fem-tech until about 10 years ago," she said. "These clamps, pulling tools, spreaders … these are not the only solutions for women's health today, and they cannot be going forward."

A 23-year veteran of the medical technology industry, Fayer founded HERhealthEQ in 2016 to take the same mission for women's health care rights in the domestic space to equipment solutions for women in developing nations.

"We want to progressively improve health and mortality rates of women, while also ensuring positive, long-term social and economic outcomes for underserved communities worldwide," she said.

Such solutions include training and accountability, as well as developing relationships with medical device manufacturers and hospitals to establish greater gender equity in the health care field and its many tangential industries.

Under Fayer's leadership, the company has equipped communities in Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, India, Vietnam and Jamaica, among others, impacting more than 33,000 women to date, according to the company's website.

The company is on pace to impact one million women across the world by 2026, Fayer said.

Before establishing HERhealthEQ, Fayer worked for enough medical companies to know that gender inequity exists—not in an overt sense, but rather as a function of a status quo mentality.

"So many things are designed with a man in mind first, and that needs to change," she said. "More money needs to go to women-owned health care companies."

And it should be noted, she said, that women's health "is not just the bikini area."

Female-specific conditions can include contraception, fertility, maternal health, menopause, female oncology and gynecology.

"Fertility, menopause—100 percent of all women will go through menopause—mRNA vaccines, mental health, wearable technologies, chronic health … these are focus areas that need to be considered for women, as they are areas that women experience differently," Fayer said.

But conditions that affect women disproportionately also include auto-immune diseases, migraines, osteoporosis and breast cancer.

And conditions that affect women differently than men are numerous, Fayer said, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

"Women present differently for a heart attack, usually back pain instead of chest pain," she said. "And because of this, on average it takes women eight times longer to be diagnosed with a heart attack.

"Knowing these differences, and highlighting these differences, are important. Women react differently to drugs, and this needs to be considered in drug product manufacturing. Women's issues are not just fertility or breast-related."

The global health care industry is projected to nearly double in worth from $35.6 billion in 2021 to $62.6 billion in 2028, Fayer said.

"And 85 percent of the population growth in the next 20 years is not here in the U.S.," she said. "This is why it is important to know where we are in women's health, and where we are going. That's what we are here to work on."

And conferences like MD&M East can assist in the U.S. and global missions that Fayer and her company have in improving both women's health care and health care in developing nations.

In an age of rapidly developing medical technology, via AI and automation in production as well as through material innovations, movers and shakers need to seize the moment for customized health care, Fayer said.

"You look at women in sports, there is a lot of money being invested there," she said. "Let's figure out how women can train better, and rehab better. Faster treatment rates (when treatment is customized) means a better economy."

More money needs to be spent globally to address health care inequities—especially as the world becomes exponentially more connected.

"When emerging markets have capital, the first thing they spend it on is health care," Fayer said. "With all the connectivity, we need to be aware of what will work in the U.S., Europe and Asia, yes. But we need to know what works everywhere else as well. Knowing what works, where it works, is critical. Almost all complications—childbirth, non-communicable diseases—happen in emerging markets and developing countries."

Fayer added that many women may not be comfortable with the "probing and prodding" that can take place in an office setting, so home health care is preferred.

"Equipment should be designed by women, for women," Fayer said. "Your design teams should include women. Only about five to 10 percent of orthopedic surgeons are women. Do you know why? Because their hands, in most cases, are too small to grip the devices, because the devices were designed by men. You need to be sure you are inclusive and including women in the design phase, not just having them on the testing side."

Ironically, one key in promoting this tectonic shift thinking, Fayer said, is to find men who can champion the movement.

"It is important to have men as representatives in fem-tech," Fayer said. "To get women into positions of leadership, there needs to be support structures to allow women to work. Flexible work is here to stay, and women should be included as part of the solution. That is the grace that needs to happen in the work force as well.

"But there needs to be male champions of women. Men need to be those champions—for new projects, we need to put them in the room as part of the discussions.

"And as women, we need to push to be in that room as well."