By Nisha Kumari and Avantika
New Delhi: Menstrual cycle monitoring apps have become incredibly popular among women worldwide in recent years. Built with the aim to give better awareness to women on the date and duration of their menstrual cycles, and ovulation period for people planning for a baby, or who want to prevent pregnancy and monitor period-related health problems such as hormone-triggered migraines.
On the occasion of World Menstrual Hygiene Day ETHealthworld intends to understand the functioning of period tracking apps, why it is important to consult a doctor before making an informed decision, and why there is scrutiny around the collection of health data.
Apps offer temporary medical solutions
Users begin by revealing information about their menstrual cycles. This covers the start and finish times of their cycles as well as any symptoms or other data they wish to track (for example, mood swings, the heaviness of their periods, or the use of contraception). They also enter data from ovulation prediction kits or basal body temperature (BBT) readings.
Using the original data provided, the software then performs calculations and algorithms to predict the user’s forthcoming menstrual cycles. These predictions are based on the assumption that future cycles will have traits in common with earlier ones. As the user adds additional data, the forecasts may become more accurate. Hence the programme keeps track of the scheduled beginning and ending dates.
There has been a debate around how efficient these period-tracking apps are in regards to providing proper diagnosis, and how they mostly offer a generalized solution to different sexual and reproductive health problems. Dr Preethika Shetty, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Motherhood Hospitals, Kharadi, said, “There are girls who use these menstrual apps to understand their period cycle, their first period, or when to plan for pregnancy. But they use apps for maybe a couple of months with that, but when they get into problems, they do come to a gynaecologist. Now there is another percentage of people who come to us, and then they ask whether we should use them or not.”Dr Rajashri Tayshete Bhasale, Consultant Gynecologist & Obstetrician, Laparoscopic Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road, said, “We have to understand that the human body doesn’t work based on these AI-based calculations. Apps are giving them temporary solutions, but they could get serious without a proper diagnosis. The treatments or solutions they are getting are only temporary. This can cause a long-term problem. So many ladies are using this to track their ovulation. They want to know whether they are pregnant, and you know these apps are guiding them, but there are so many things that are being missed.”
Scrutiny behind collecting health data
Period tracking apps can be a significant market growth driver for the femtech sector as well as can pose a threat to its users. Femtech (or female technology) is a phrase used to describe a group of programmes, tests, goods, and services that frequently employ technology to focus on the health of women. “The whole scrutiny around health data came from the conversations in the US, where the entire pro-choice, pro-life debate is a very big issue. That’s not the case in India. But it’s a very big issue there. And one of the consequences of that issue in the digital age is that now people are concerned about what information can be gleaned from menstrual labs,” voiced Anushka Jain, Policy Counsel, Internet Freedom Foundation, India.
Jain added “Personal data is a very important passage that needs to be regulated because it can tell a lot about your life. Health data is even more important because it relates to a very personal aspect of your life. And it can have severe consequences if it’s accessed by someone who should not be accessing it. One example of the issues that could arise is that if, for example, banks or insurance companies are able to access your health data, they could increase your insurance premiums if you ever apply for insurance based on the data that they have for you. This could lead to a lot of severe consequences if it’s accessed by someone who is not supposed to be accessing it. Similarly, data that leads to menstrual cycles is extremely delicate in the sense that it is health data. And it is the data about a person’s menstruation cycle.”
Echoing the above sentiments Dr Bhasale added, “Few monitoring apps might share their data with a third party. Now these can be picked up by health insurance companies, who in turn might increase the premium cost. Information nowadays is very easy to access, but how you’re going to use that information for oneself and how one is going to interpret it is a very different thing.”
Although users can access the application’s insights by providing information it’s thought that this data is distributed to businesses and groups in order to promote the expansion of the femtech market as a whole. These businesses often persuade individuals to invest in their products by selling the information and data of users to the brands. Users of such apps also report that period-tracking apps indulge in suggesting products and brands from menstrual hygiene companies.
No privacy law in India
Users have become weary of their online presence, particularly on period tracking apps, as a result of casual data selling and government interference with personal data for the sake of conducting surveillance and regulating citizens. John Paul, Founder & CEO, Maya informed that “Most apps claim to be General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant, which is the European rules around data privacy rights, which say that you have to get the user’s consent before you track any data, or once a user tracks the data if the right to be forgotten applies, the user should be able to delete all of their data, and the data should not be shared with any third parties, again, without the consent of the user. These are the general principles based on the GDPR rules that are framed, and we are pretty much in compliance with all of them. We don’t explicitly say that we are GDPR compliant, but we are pretty much compliant with most of those provisions as mentioned in the GDPR.”
Paul also explains what happens to the data if a user is no longer active on these apps. “Firstly if the user is no longer active but has not explicitly deleted their account, the data is still stored securely on our servers. Because the user is not active right now, it does not mean the user has left permanently. They might log in after a while, or they might log in from a different device or a different platform. So, unless there is explicit consent and action from the user that they want their data removed, we don’t delete it. But that said, at any point that the user wants to close their account and delete the data, the app has that option in the Account section,” he said.
So the issue is definitely not about the existence of these apps. These apps obviously perform a valuable function. The problem is that India has currently no data protection laws. “So there is no standard as to how the data that is being collected is to be stored. The other issue is that because of these health IDs, all of the data related to a person is being collected in one place. There is no cybersecurity policy in India, and there’s no data protection law in India. But still, all of this data is being collected and collated to the extent that one person’s entire medical history can be accessed, which is extremely harmful,” said Jain.
Period tracking apps allow menstruators to plan ahead for their periods and offer a number of advantages, but it is important to always be in contact with a doctor and make informed decisions accordingly. In addition to this, the government should also frame strict data protection laws that concern the accuracy, privacy, and accessibility of these apps.