ISB Unveils ‘IDEAS’ framework to close gender gaps in digital health

The Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM) at the Indian School of Business (ISB), in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Women’s Collective Forum, and Gates Foundation, has recently unveiled the holistic IDEAS framework — Innovation, Digitalisation, Equity, Accessibility, and Security — to promote inclusive digital health in India. The five pillars offer actionable guidelines to bridge gender care gaps by embedding gender-inclusivity at every level of healthcare innovation, including design, deployment, and governance.

Developed as part of a new whitepaper titled “New Ideas and Innovations for Women’s Health in India,” the IDEAS framework provides a strategic roadmap for policymakers, innovators, and healthcare leaders to integrate gender inclusivity into India’s fast-growing digital health ecosystem.

Innovation focuses on simple and practical solutions, co-created with women users under a mango tree.’ Digitalisation emphasises interoperability and data-driven governance, while ensuring cost-effective, culturally attuned, and gender-inclusive digital solutions that promote Equity. The whitepaper centres on ‘human voice behind technology’, underpinning the importance of co-learning and seamless tech support, along with robust public-private collaboration to enhance Accessibility. By placing trust at the heart of usability, the authors advocate for stronger regulatory frameworks to safeguard users and data Security. Although conceived for digital health, the IDEAS framework has relevance across the broader health system.

The whitepaper combines secondary data analysis, policy review, and stakeholder consultations, adopting a life-cycle approach to map temporal and spatial trends in women’s health across age groups. It identifies barriers to care seeking through the 5As (Awareness, Accessibility, Affordability, Acceptance, and Accountability) and highlights scalable digital and AI-powered health solutions.

Despite India’s recent progress in maternal health and female life expectancy, the research team identified persistent challenges such as low literacy, limited financial autonomy, and the digital gender divide, which continue to restrict women’s access to healthcare. The whitepaper highlighted that emerging technologies and AI can help bridge the existing gaps, provided the algorithms reflect real-world diversity and avoid perpetuating bias.

Highlighting about the framework and its relevance in the current context, Dr Naresh Trehan Chairman, CII Steering Group on Health and CII Healthcare Council and Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta – Medicity said, “The IDEAS framework—centered on Innovation, Digitalization, Equity, Accessibility, and Security—offers a pragmatic and actionable blueprint for policymakers, healthcare providers, and industry leaders to ensure equitable healthcare access for all, including women. Women’s health is not a marginal issue; it is fundamental to India’s demographic dividend and the strength of its families, communities, and economy.”

Dr. Deepshikha Batheja, Principal Research Scientist, ISB MIHM, and lead author of the paper, said, “Technology alone cannot close gender gaps unless it is designed with participation, trust, cultural sensitivity, and strong regulation at its core. Our whitepaper underscores the critical need to recognise women as leaders in healthcare innovation, and not just as passive recipients. Inclusivity is the path forward to stronger health systems and better health outcomes, especially for women.” IDEAS is a cross-cutting framework that can catalyse a future where equitable access to safe, inclusive, and trustworthy healthcare for women is the norm.”

The whitepaper calls on policymakers, innovators, healthcare providers, and civil society to collaborate in dismantling systemic barriers and shaping a future where every woman in India can access dignified, inclusive, and tech-enabled healthcare. Guided by its comprehensive analysis of women’s health and the Femtech landscape in India, the whitepaper provides a practical tool and an actionable framework that policymakers, providers, and innovators can leverage to empower women and bring meaningful improvements to their everyday lives through technology.

(The research team included Dr. Deepshikha Batheja, Professor Sarang Deo, Dr. Navsangeet Saini, and Subhiksha from ISB-MIHM, along with Dr. Priyanka Singh from CII.)