If women received the care they needed the Dutch healthcare system could save at least €7.6 billion, the initiators of a new research and innovation centre dedicated to women’s health have said.

The Netherlands Women’s Health Research Center at the Erasmus MC teaching hospital in Rotterdam, is a virtual gathering place for research into health problems that are specific to women but which are being treated based predominantly on male data.

Despite living longer than men, women spend 25% more of their lives managing chronic illnesses due to historical gender biases in medicine, the centre says on its website.

Apart from health problems specific to women, the centre will look at diseases which manifest differently in women, such as heart disease, migraine and osteoporosis,

“Over one in three women has found doctors did not believe them, or jumped to a conclusion without asking further questions. Women are misdiagnosed or do not get the right treatment because of it,” Hanneke Takkenberg, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and one of the three initiators of the centre, told broadcaster NOS.

The centre will not only function as a central hub for knowledge but will also bring together policymakers. Inadequate care for women results in them being unable to continue working and this affects the economy.

“We have already gathered a lot of knowledge when it comes to the differences in male and female physiology, and many doctors know women have different symptoms compared to men,” doctor Jeanine Roeters van Lennep said. “It is now a question of centralising that knowledge and experience.”

 The centre also welcomes contributions from healthcare organisations from abroad, including businesses that want to invest in women’s healthcare.

“We couple them to researchers,” Roeters van Lennep said. “Have you ever had a bladder infection? You have to pee into a pot to give a sample, easy for men, not so easy for women. To avoid a mess one of the researchers developed a woman-friendly pot. That is part of better care for women,” she said.

Database

The centre will be developing a broad database, Greet Vink, head of research and development. “We want to create datasets to study the biological, socio-economic and environmental and interpersonal challenges which prevent women from realising their full potential,” she said.

Initiators Vink, Takkenberg and Roeters van Lennep say they feel that women have been neglected by the healthcare system long enough.

“It is incomprehensible that so little knowledge about specific women’s health problems has been anchored in the health system. Without that knowledge, we can’t treat them properly. We must stop looking away because ultimately women’s problems are everyone’s problems,” they said.