U.S. women's health ranks on par with Kazakhstan, research finds

By Eleanor Laise

Annual ranking finds 'emergency in women's health' amid lack of testing for life-threatening conditions

The U.S. fell seven places in an annual global ranking of women's health, landing at 30th place alongside Kazakhstan and Mauritius.

The health index, created by women's health innovation company Hologic Inc. (HOLX) in partnership with Gallup, found that the world "faces an emergency in women's health" as billions of women are going untested for potentially life-threatening conditions. Women's emotional health has also worsened since the height of the pandemic, according to the latest index, which is now in its third year and set to be released today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The findings serve "as a wake-up call that improving women's health needs to be a top priority," Hologic CEO Stephen MacMillan said in a statement. The index is based on interviews with more than 147,000 people in 143 countries and territories, Hologic said in a release. The latest data, gathered in 2022 and analyzed in 2023, capture a view of women's health across preventive care and emotional health, as well as their opinions about health and safety, basic needs such as housing and individual health.

Globally, women are no better off on those five dimensions of health than they were three years ago, according to Hologic's report on the index findings. In several key ways, women are worse off.

The survey found that most women hadn't been tested in the previous 12 months for cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, or sexually transmitted diseases. Just over one-third of women globally were tested for high blood pressure, while only 19% were tested for diabetes and 11% for any type of cancer.

Despite its high per-capita healthcare spending, U.S. women's health overall ranked behind Vietnam, Latvia, Estonia and dozens of other countries. Although the U.S. tied with Canada for the highest score on preventive care, it ranked near or below the global average on emotional health, individual health, and opinions of health and safety, a measure that encompasses women's views on issues such as pregnancy care and whether they feel safe walking alone in their communities at night.

Women's health was best in Taiwan, Kuwait, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the index found, while the lowest-ranking countries included the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

-Eleanor Laise

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01-16-24 1016ET

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