Need to address historical gap in data collection around women, says Sathya Sriram

Addressing the historical gap in women-centric data collection and the burden of disease on women at The Hindu Tamil Nadu Women’s Summit 2024.

There is a need to address the historical gap in data collection around women and collect much more women-centric data, said Sathya Sriram, Chief Executive Officer, Preventive Health, Apollo Hospitals.

In a conversation on “Is the burden of disease more feminine?” at The Hindu Tamil Nadu Women’s Summit 2024 on Tuesday, Ms. Sriram, while talking about harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to address women’s concerns much better, said, “To build good AI, we need to have coherent data…The challenge that we have to address is the big gap, a historical gap in data collection around women.”

“If we start to take cognisance of that now and build the datasets in a manner that allows us to build models specific for women, that is our chance to ensure that the right models are set up. At Apollo Hospitals, we are studying databases of mammograms over the last few years, and we are trying to build an algorithm by looking at those images to see if we can find a way to predict breast cancer even earlier or the risk of it which allows you then a very different protocol of screening for someone else who has a lower risk,” she explained.

On whether the burden of disease is more feminine, she said the answer is a resounding “yes”. “Biologically and physiologically, women are different. There is reproductive and hormonal health that sets us apart, and that for many of us is a bane on a monthly basis. On the flip side, it is also a boon because it protects women from cardiac diseases much more until menopause. Women with diabetes have the exact same risk as men with diabetes for heart disease,” she said. The burden of disease is much more around women as there are far less diagnoses of many conditions, she added.

On access to healthcare, she, while citing data from Apollo Hospital’s preventive health checks, said that only 35% of the health checks are done by women. “We are almost precluding ourselves from being proactive about our own health,” she said.

She noted that every eight minutes, one woman was lost to breast cancer in India. According to research, among Indian women, the age of diagnosis of breast cancer is a full decade younger than Caucasian women. “It is really important for us to be aware of the underlying risk factors of breast cancers. How many of us know that the age of attaining menarche and the age at which you have your first child impacts your breast cancer risk. This is one of the most curable cancers when detected early,” she added.

“In general, women do not prioritise themselves. Therefore, my appeal is to prioritise another woman who is close to you. Let’s be there for one another. Let the men prioritise a woman close to you,” she said.