Stakeholders in women’s health have called for improved data and measurement systems to better address women’s health needs across different stages of life.

The stakeholders made the call at a Stakeholders’ Engagement Meeting themed “Weaving the Web: A Transformative Framework for Women’s Health Measurement” on Thursday in Abuja.

Organised by Veritas University, Abuja, in collaboration with the University of Abuja and the University of Windsor, the project brought together representatives of development partners and persons with disabilities to discuss developing a framework for measuring women’s health.

John Ovuraye, director of planning, research and statistics, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said reliable data was very effective in health planning.

Theresa Nwachukwu, the executive director, Public Health Department, Federal Capital Territory Administration, said the department’s mandate includes public health programme planning, monitoring and evaluation, research/surveys, and data management for evidence-based decisions.

Ms Nwachukwu said the department supported the engagement and worked toward outcomes, particularly recommendations that could contribute to evidence-based planning and improved health outcomes.

Ms Nwachukwu described the initiative as a flexible and practical approach to improving women’s health measurement.

Emmanuel Okechukwu, co-principal investigator of the project, said the initiative was designed to address gaps in existing women’s health measurement frameworks, which largely focused on biomedical and reproductive health indicators.

Mr Okechukwu, a senior lecturer at Veritas University, said the gaps included areas such as mental health, caregiving burden, gender-based violence and some chronic conditions.

He said the project combined primary data, existing datasets and analytical tools, including machine learning and natural language processing, to generate evidence for policy decisions.

A co-investigator of the project, Perpetua Ibekwe, said a review of studies conducted as part of the project showed gaps in measuring women’s health across the life course and in capturing intersectional factors.

She said the project would develop an artificial intelligence-powered multidimensional women’s health framework and a digital platform to support analysis and policymaking.

The provost, College of Health Sciences, Titus Ibekwe, said stakeholder participation was important to ensuring that the research reflected the needs of the target population.

Mr Ibekwe said researchers needed stakeholders’ technical input before commencing field data collection. He said the project was still being refined and that stakeholders’ contributions would help strengthen it before data collection.

The vice chancellor of Veritas University, Hyacinth Ichoku, said the project came at the right time, as it would help address existing gaps in women’s health measurement. Mr Ichoku said it would also contribute and provide useful evidence for better planning and decision-making.

He added that the university was pleased to support initiatives that brought researchers, government and other stakeholders together to develop practical solutions to women’s health challenges.

Stakeholders at the event also reviewed data-collection tools, validation, consensus-building, ethics and data governance.

The project is expected to proceed with finalising research instruments, ethical data collection, and the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities.

(NAN)