Margie Polden Memorial Lecture: Why women’s health needs the WoW factor

Author(s): F. E. Campbell - Pages: 4–11

Abstract

The health of women in the UK and other "high income" countries has improved substantially in the past 100 years, as demonstrated by an increase in life expectancy. Has this led to a sense of complacency? Does it mask an underlying stalemate in improvements to health services for women? Have women’s attitudes to their health altered with improving life expectancy? It is common to say that the last taboo in women’s health is discussion about gynaecological issues. Incontinence is still the topic that is not acceptable on breakfast television. Whilst physically explicit programmes proliferate in the evening, gynaecological topics are rarely mentioned in prime-time media. In the meantime, we are bombarded with "advice" about good health, diet and exercise. Does this serve to mask an underlying deficiency in the search for real knowledge that can help us to address the most common of women’s health conditions? Are we translating the knowledge that we have into clinical practice and properly giving it to the women whose lives could be improved? Wellbeing of Women is a charity that raises money to improve women’s health through research, training and education. This paper
discusses the current status of women’s health and what the role of such a charity should be in the twenty-first century. We can all ask ourselves, "What is the women’s health agenda?"

Keywords: chronic disease, research, risk factors, Wellbeing of Women, women’s health.