5TH GLOBAL WOMEN’S HEALTH INDEX REPORT IDENTIFIES CONCERNING DROP IN AUSTRALIAN BREAST CANCER SCREENING Researchers, industry and patients with lived experience attend screening of breast cancer documentary to launch report
With
Professor Bruce Mann
Specialist Breast Surgeon;
Head of Breast Surgical Research,
The Royal Melbourne Hospital &
Director of Research, Breast Cancer Trials &
Professor of Surgery,
University of Melbourne
Kensi Naicker,
General Manager, Hologic Australia & New Zealand
Lynette Bolton, 46
Diagnosed with fast-growing, triple negative breast cancer
SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | July 2026
The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index is one of the largest global reports dedicated exclusively to women’s health and wellbeing. Now in its fifth year, the Index tracks women’s health across five dimensions , Preventive Care, Emotional Health, Opinions of Health and Safety, Basic Needs and Individual Health – across 144 countries and territories, covering 97 per cent of the global adult population.
Launched this week to coincide with Conquering Breast Cancer – a new Australian documentary featuring survivors, advocates and clinicians, the Year 5 report is based on surveys conducted in 2024, by telephone and in person, with nearly 145,000 women and men aged 15+, commissioned by Hologic, and conducted by Gallup. In Australia, the survey sampled 1,000 respondents aged 15+, including boys, girls, men and women.
The Index provides decision-makers, researchers and advocates with timely, comprehensive data on women’s health and wellbeing worldwide, offering a vital benchmark for understanding where, and why, women struggle with healthcare and other basic necessities.
The drivers behind Australia’s decline are complex but increasingly clear. Women are 35 per cent more likely than men to delay or skip medical care, driven not only by individual choice, but by structural and gender-based inequities affecting access, affordability and autonomy. (1,2)
Cost-of-living pressures are compounding the issue. The Index’s Basic Needs score has fallen from 92 in Year 1 to 84 in Year 5 – one of the steepest declines across all dimensions.1 Australian women are also more stressed, worried, angry and sad than they were in Year 1 – with 52 per cent reporting feeling stressed for much of the previous day, and 41 per cent experiencing worry. (3)
Sources:
1. Gebreyes K, Dhar A, Bhatt J, Gerhardt W, Korenda L. What’s causing US women to skip or delay medical care? Life Sciences & Health Care: Deloitte; 2024. Available from:
https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/why-women-skip-or-delay-health-care.html.
2. Rata Mohan DS, Jawahir S, Manual A, Abdul Mutalib NE, Mohd Noh SN, Ab Rahim I, et al. Gender differences in health-seeking behaviour: insights from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025;25(1):90
3. The Hologic Global Women’s Health Index: Australia. Hologic & Gallup; 2026.
Source: Adapted from media release
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Australian Healthcare Week 2019: Pitch Fest Finalist Coviu
Telelheath startup company Coviu was a Pitch Fest Finalist at last week’s Australian Healthcare Week Expo in Sydney. The Coviu platform has been developed as an spinoff from CSIRO and allows healthcare businesses offer video consultations to their own patients. It differs from being just a ‘talking head’ platform that Skype or Zoom could offer, by providing clinical tools integrated within the app. Anne Dao spoke with Co-founder and CEO Silvia Pfeiffer about the company and platform’s journey to date and its longer term goals.
Coviu helps healtcare businesses by helping fit in more consultation during that day and reducing no-shows for appointments. Also given the nature of the dispersed population, the application reaches to rural and regional areas where patients are a long distance from their healthcare provider. The company is focused on the Australian market and aims to enter the US market next year
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Physiotherapist, exercise physiologist support for management of osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is commonly managed medically and typically with treatment. Exercise is also essential in the management of osteoporosis but tends to be under-utilised due to lack of knowledge and unfounded concerns about the risk of injury. In fact, optimal care of people with low bone mass, osteoporosis and/or increased risk of falling can and should include targeted exercise to help prevent osteoporotic fracture.
In early 2024, Healthy Bones Australia released a summary of the principles of osteogenic loading and fall prevention, the translation of those principles into clinical practice, evidence-based recommendations for exercise prescription, and special considerations, along with links to several relevant resources for people with or at risk of osteoporosis, falls and fractures.
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Sydney North Neighbourhood Health Hubs to approach health and welfare in holistic way
Many people struggle to access the right care at the right time, leading to gaps, delays, and confusion when navigating the health system. By fostering collaboration and integration, the Wellbeing Collaborative will support a primary care system that works better together, making it easier for individuals to receive early intervention and preventative care. By working together and in partnership, Sydney North Health Network aim to create more connected, accessible, and person-centred services that address key health challenges locally, including chronic illness, mental health, aged care, alcohol and other drugs (AOD), and suicide prevention.
