Johannesburg - Despite accounting for an overwhelmingly large proportion of consumer purchasing decisions in the healthcare industry in South Africa, such as medical screenings and contraceptives, investment in women's healthcare has sadly been an afterthought.
But thankfully, that is changing as visionary market players such as 3Sixty Health have committed themselves to developing tailored solutions to plug this gap in the market and develop solutions that will address the unmet needs of women’s healthcare.
The chairperson of 3Sixty Health, Khandani Msibi, said despite the strides that have been achieved in the medical field over the past century, there has been far less investment in women healthcare, particularly menstrual health, which affects millions of women. Health complications resulting from menstrual healthcare has even precipitated calls for government to consider legislating menstrual leave in labour laws.
According to medical journal BMJ Open, menstruation-related symptoms cause a great deal of lost productivity, and presenteeism is a bigger contributor to this than absenteeism. “There is an urgent need for more focus on the impact of these symptoms, especially in women aged under 21 years, for discussions of treatment options with women of all ages and, ideally, more flexibility for women who work or go to school.”
“A lot of products that are in the market were developed for general healthcare, and they were not necessarily formulated to treat conditions such as menstrual healthcare, which manifests itself in many forms. Many menstrual pain solutions in the market are simply generic pain medication that has been branded as medication for menstrual pains.
‘’We have invested over R20 million to develop our brand of Salome range products, which have received approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), to address menstrual health in its variety of complications. There is no one-size-fits-all to treat menstrual health. We have a product that is specifically formulated to treat premenstrual syndrome (PMS), products purposely developed to alleviate menstrual severe pain and cramps, we have medication designed to regulate heavy flow, and those that are specially formulated to treat irregular menstrual cycles caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). All these varied products are not synthetic but botanic extract based, meaning they are made of plants and therefore they are more friendlier to the body,” says Msibi.
Msibi says his company is currently exploring the feasibility of treating ovarian, breast and cervical cancer using cannabidiols and radio isotopes, which is part of nuclear medicine.
“We believe that as women continue to assert themselves and take up more positions of power in society, there is rising consciousness about health. The demand for products that speak to their needs will also correspondingly increase. We are pleased that we are at the nucleus of these changes, and we're making a strong contribution towards women’s health,” Msibi concludes.
The Star