Making Women’s Health a priority!

In 2013 Jean Hailes, a national not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to improving women’s health ran the first national Women’s Health Week with an aim to make good health a priority.

Why is there Women’s Health Week you may ask, well women are known for being great at caring for those around them but can often forget to take care of themselves having detrimental effects on their physical and mental health.  So, during the first week of September each year, the Women’s Health Week encourages women to put themselves first for a week!

Each day of the week, they covered a different topic with Monday focusing on ‘Silent topics’ such as period pain, heavy periods, endometriosis and itchy vulvas. Tuesday was about happier hormones, Wednesday concentrated on Mental Health, Thursday centred on Pelvic Power and the final day, Friday talked about being “Wired & Tired.” The Women’s Health Week website has some amazing resources about Women’s Health, as does the Jean Hailes website, I would absolutely recommend taking the time to check them out! As I browsed the pages of the website, I found myself picking up different pieces of information that I had never knew or even thought about before.
Scroll to the bottom of this blog for some links that we thought may be useful!

This year, Jean Hailes conducted their fourth annual Women’s Health Survey with over 15,000 women 18 and over, living in Australia responding to the survey.

Some highlighted results of the Women’s Health survey that stood out for me where that:

  • 8% of women surveyed described themselves as overweight or obese
  • 1% of women who responded had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety by a doctor or psychologist
  • 3% reported not getting time to themselves on a weekly basis
  • 9% of women surveyed could not afford to see a health professional when they need one
  • 9% of women surveyed first seek information by searching the internet when they have a health concern
  • Fact sheets and face to face education were the most popular ways to receive health information
  • The top 5 health topics women wanted to know more about included; weight management, healthy eating/nutrition/ mental and emotional health, anxiety and menopause.

For the full report please click here.

With NCNS having 3 women’s groups, we felt that it would be beneficial to hold a Women’s Health Day open to all women in the local area, giving them an opportunity to have face to face education about women’s health in a familiar setting.

So, on Tuesday 4th September at our Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre, we had guest speakers from local services come out and speak to the women of our local community. We would like to thank the folks from Uniting, Terry White Chemist, Penrith Women’s Health Centre and Barnardos for the wealth of knowledge and information that you offered on the day and providing an opportunity to link those who attended to services that they may have never otherwise known were available to them. The purpose of the day was not only to provide information but to help the ladies feel comfortable approaching local services when they need some help.

With cost being a barrier for many women when seeking help from a professional, it was fantastic to find many services available that were either free of charge or with minimal cost. We hope that these women, now armed with valuable information can spread their newly acquired knowledge to their family, friends and other members of the community making sure that good health is priority for everyone!

 

Useful links:

From jeanhailes.org.au

Understanding Endometriosis
Period Pain Symptom Diary
Booklet: The Vulva

From www.womenshealthweek.com.au

Monday: Silent Topics
Tuesday: Happier Hormones
Wednesday: The ‘Me’ in mental health
Thursday: Pelvic Power
Friday: Wired & Tired

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCES:
https://jeanhailes.org.au/contents/documents/News/Womens-Health-Survey-2018-highlights-infographic.pdf
https://jeanhailes.org.au/womens-health-survey-2018
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/about/
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/the-week/monday/
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/the-week/tuesday/
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/the-week/wednesday/
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/the-week/thursday/
https://www.womenshealthweek.com.au/the-week/friday/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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