Women’s health issues have not only been considered taboo and stigmatized. The knowledge gap regarding women’s health is also much larger than that regarding men’s health. To change that, three women have formed the non-profit Nordic Women’s Health Hub, bringing together members with various relevant backgrounds to promote knowledge and general acceptance of women’s health issues and, ultimately, change laws to promote equal health rights for women.
Vanessa Julia Carpenter, Malene Enø, and Charlotte Langer are the founders of the Nordic Women’s Health Hub. Their combined backgrounds and experiences exemplify what they aim for in creating the Nordic Women’s Health Hub. Carpenter has a PhD in Design and Technology, Enø is a business angel and impact investor, and Langer is the Women’s Health Lead at Angella Invest and has a legal background.
Started at a femtech workshop
“I held a femtech workshop, introducing people to the landscape of women’s health from the lens of femtech, which Charlotte and Malene signed up for. After this workshop, we three decided to meet and discuss our common passion for women’s health,” says Vanessa Julia Carpenter.
Carpenter has worked tirelessly for the past eight years to promote public interest in women’s health.
“I have felt alone in this search for like-minded people to forge partnerships or collaborations in the realm of women’s health and femtech. Suddenly, we’re many, and it’s incredible,” exclaims Vanessa Julia Carpenter about the strong interest from men and women in joining the launch event on Thursday, 20 February, in Copenhagen.
Launch to engage in conversations
The team behind the Nordic Women’s Health Hub currently consists of 13 people. They celebrated that the event sold out a few hours after being announced. It was free to join but limited to 70 participants.
“We were hoping to get the participants’ perspective at the launch event, to hear what they are hoping for, and that they will contribute to shaping the Nordic Women’s Health Hub. I’m already flooded with people who want to learn more about and join the Nordic Women’s Health Hub,” says Julia Persson, one of the 13 team members behind the hub. She has a finance degree and a background in fintech, besides writing a blog about biohacking using AI and data to optimize health.
Kicki Bajlum is another team member behind the Nordic Women’s Health Hub. She has a background as a nurse and holds a Master’s in Health Science, specializing in cervical cancer.
“If you engage in your surroundings, you are more willing to listen to each other. That’s why we had a speed dating session at the launch party. We hope that the conversations that began at this launch will create business opportunities and research funding in women’s health in the future”, explains Kicki Bajlum.
Communicate across silos
The Nordic Women’s Health Hub aims to unite people across various fields related to women’s health, including startups and investors, researchers and clinicians, activists, and pharmaceutical industries. The members focus their efforts on four pillars: innovation, knowledge, activism, and partnerships.
“There exist silos within this field. Researchers don’t necessarily get to speak with startups who don’t get to speak with clinicians or activists, etc. It’s a problem because if they were connected, they’d realize their potential in creating something together, or at least, sharing their experiences and knowledge,” says Vanessa Julia Carpenter, explaining why the Nordic Women’s Health Hub prioritizes their work in the four pillars.
“We know that collaborating across disciplines fosters innovation, and that’s why we want to bring people in this range of fields together to share knowledge. When you bring the right people together, sharing knowledge and cooperating, we hope to not only foster innovation but also to create partnerships. Finally, we need activism to focus on the knowledge gap and the opportunities waiting within innovation and knowledge sharing regarding women’s health”, explains Vanessa Julia Carpenter.
Women’s health is still taboo
It appears that the group has succeeded in bringing attention to and creating interest in learning more about women’s health from a wide range of people.
“Every time I meet someone who gets excited about women’s health, we share what we have learned about our bodies to bring down stigma related to women’s health issues and to get access to the means to lead healthy lives. There is still so much taboo about women’s health, body, and symptoms,” says Vanessa Julia Carpenter.
In her experience, many doctors do not recognize menopause symptoms or, for example, endometriosis, which TechTruster has written articles about here and here.
“Many doctors will give women experiencing menopause issues or female-related pain the blanket answer: “You probably need to lose some weight, or these are typical problems, it will be fine.” But your doctor isn’t a specialist and doesn’t necessarily have the time or energy to dive deeply into this field. Therefore, you should ask your doctor for a referral to see a specialist when you don’t feel heard by your doctor,” advises Vanessa Julia Carpenter.
For that reason, one purpose of the Nordic Health Hub is to break down stigmas and taboos about women’s health.
Women’s health gaining traction
Another purpose of the Nordic Women’s Health Hub is to change laws.
“Some of the members are involved at the government level to change the perspective amongst lawmakers to see both the right to quality of life and the business perspectives in investing in women’s health,” says Vanessa Julia Carpenter.
Launching the Nordic Women’s Health Hub is one step towards that goal.
Jenny Lundkvist, co-founder and CPO of DAYA, a Swedish femtech venture studio, gave a keynote address at the launch event. She described her positive outlook on the future of innovations to improve knowledge about women’s health.
“This is the first time women have created an industry where they can lead and innovate. The most groundbreaking solutions in women’s health have not been created yet,“ Jenny Lundkvist stated.
Fortunately, women’s health now seems to get traction in society. An example of the growing focus on women’s health in society is last year’s TechBBQ in Copenhagen, where Ulla Sommerfelt and her co-founders launched Femtech Studios. Another piece of evidence of that is that the Danish business association, Dansk Erhverv, is now cooperating with Charlotte Langer to improve women’s health while boosting the economy.
Read more about the Nordic Women’s Health Hub.