Weber Shandwick Collective announces women’s health offering in Asia Pacific

 25th May 2023    PR News 
 Saumya Srivastava

Ahead of International Day of Action for Women’s Health (28 May 2023), The Weber Shandwick Collective today (25 May, 2023) announced the launch of its bespoke, cross-market offering committed to shaping healthier futures for all women in Asia Pacific. 

The Weber Shandwick Collective Women’s Health offer brings together a group of agency experts from across the region, covering health communications, corporate communications, policy and advocacy, employee engagement, digital innovation, and design experience. 

The offer will be led by Rachael Pay, managing director, health, Weber Shandwick EMEA and senior health sponsor for the APAC region, and hopes to drive a change in the definition of women’s health – historically niched around reproductive health and diseases unique to women – to a more holistic view on health, wellness, and wellbeing. 

Evidence shows women in Asia are at a higher risk of suffering from a multitude of diseases or experiencing poorer outcomes than men, as is the case with such common conditions including heart disease caused by hypertension, diabetes, auto-immune diseases and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Women’s Health offer is underpinned by a suite of products and services including the agency’s latest proprietary insights product, The Women’s Health Indicator. Developed by data analysts and behaviour experts, it informs and identifies specific gaps in women’s health by analysing and assessing data points measured across society, media and policy.

“Research shows that across the Asia Pacific region, women are more prone to experiencing health inequalities brought on by sociocultural influences and conditions and political environments that limit their ability to initiate and access optimal care," said Liz Clark Martinez, vice president, of health strategy, Weber Shandwick Hong Kong & Singapore. 

Research recently conducted by The Weber Shandwick Collective reinforces the need for bespoke multi-stakeholder education and awareness campaigns, not only to reach women but to resonate with them to drive meaningful change.

“Take it in your stride” is a phrase that women in India often hear when they voice health issues. However, healthcare needs to be gender-specific which is often overlooked. Every woman should have access to curated information specific to her concerns without stigma, and it is imperative that this is normalized.” said Ruchika Vyas, EVP- client experience and health practice lead, Weber Shandwick Mumbai.

Findings from media coverage and social media data analysed from April 2022 to March 2023 in multiple Asian markets show a lack of information specific to women about Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), despite the increased risks for women:

• Despite evidence that women in Asia with type 2 diabetes are almost twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as men with diabetes, 2 only 4% of total diabetes coverage in the region mentions women explicitly.

• Despite data in Japan showing almost twice as many new cases of Alzheimer’s disease in women than in men,5 less than 1% of Alzheimer’s disease conversation in the region is female-focused.

• Despite evidence that there are at least three times as many women with RA than men with RA in South Korea6, only 3.5% of online content in the region is specific to women.

“At The Weber Shandwick Collective, we’re helping clients rewrite the script for women’s health, widely acknowledged as one of the critical areas of inequity in our region today," said Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, chief client & growth officer, Weber Shandwick, Asia Pacific. 

Commenting on Weber's internal initiatives for women, Susie Bates, chief people officer, Weber Shandwick, Asia Pacific stated, “In addition to supporting mental well-being talks and resources, our markets are committed to the ongoing development of programmes, including country-relevant menstrual and psychological support to employees, as well as flexible working policies at all levels. We remain completely committed to driving programmes in this space, whilst continuing to be mindful of our culturally nuanced markets and sensitivities around them.”