After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, you may have noticed changes to your periods: More intense cramps, a shorter cycle, and heavier bleeding. Doctors said it was all in our minds and that the disruption to our menstrual cycles would go away eventually – only for some women, it didn’t.
The Singapore Heart Foundation, in its Women’s Heart Health Survey this year, said heart disease claims the lives of about one in three women annually. Yet, more than 80 per cent of women are unaware of its severity or its symptoms – which often present very differently in females compared with males.
There’s a common thread to all these anecdotes. Associate Professor Sophia Archuleta calls it the gender gap in healthcare and health research.
The head of the National University Hospital’s (NUH) infectious diseases division said the gap refers to insufficient research on women’s health, barriers to women having access to care, and poorer health outcomes for women compared with men.
