Health of Women and Girls
The Health of Women and Girls Special Interest Group (SIG) was established in 2023 to bring together Faculty of Public Health (FPH) members and wider professionals who have a keen interest in women’s health. We will take a life-course approach to women’s and girls' health and prioritise work to tackle inequalities in women and girls' health.
We will contribute to the FPH’s focus areas for 2022-2025 and deliver our aims through:
- Working towards a clear business plan based on FPH members and women’s health professional priorities, and evidence of the most important women's and girls' health issues in the UK.
- Developing partnerships through collaboration and sharing of experience and knowledge with partners (including the Sexual and Reproductive Health SIG), wider stakeholder networks and allied health organisations.
- Championing women’s health and equity in all policy. This will include coordinating FPH responses to government and professional consultations, and identifying, promoting and collaborating on new priority areas for policy and advocacy in women’s health.
- Promoting evidence informed public health through providing an expert resource for members and identifying and sharing research ideas and opportunities in women’s health, thus supporting equitable access to opportunities for members.
- Focusing on capacity building for women’s public health
- Measuring our progress through process outputs, including an annual report of activity to the FPH board and regular briefings for members.
Figure reproduced from: Policy paper: Women’s Health Strategy, August 2022, published: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/womens-health-strategy-for-england/womens-health-strategy-for-england
The SIG's workplan for 2024 will be uploaded in due course.
Useful resources and links
- Women’s Health Strategy 2022: Women's Health Strategy for England August 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
- MMBRACE Maternal Report 2023: Infographics
- King’s Fund Podcast: What women want: addressing women’s health inequalities | The King's Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)
- World Menopause Day - International Menopause Society (imsociety.org)
- Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Royal College of Midwives
Contact
The Health of Women and Girls SIG reports to the Faculty’s Health Services Committee.
The SIG is co-chaired by:
- Rebecca Best (SpR)
- Marian Knight (Professor)
- Sophie Maule (SpR)
- Nicola Vousden (SpR)
If you have any queries, email us at: womens.sig@gmail.com.
We are keen to welcome members who have a passion for women's and girls' health or want to gain a better understanding. If you are interested in joining the SIG, we would love to hear from you.
FPH members can join this SIG by logging into their FPH members’ portal account, selecting the ‘Committees/SIGs’ button and choosing the correct SIG. You will then be asked to provide a few details, following which your application will be automatically approved. Further details on FPH membership are available here.
Webinar recordings
This event addressed the key cultural factors related to perinatal mental health and wellbeing and the need for culturally informed services in the UK, India and Myanmar. It also explored opportunities for shared learning across high and low resourced settings around the need for cultural competency in perinatal mental health and explore practical ways of achieving this.
This webinar was organised by the FPH Health of Women and Girls SIG and the FPH Mental Health SIG, and took place on 10 April 2024 as part of series of learning webinars during Global Public Health Week.
