International Women’s Day: Driving Engagement in Women’s Health
With International Women’s Day (IWD) fast approaching on 8 March, it’s a timely opportunity to pause and reflect on the Beyond team’s work advancing awareness, education and outcomes in women’s health.
Since 1911, IWD has celebrated women’s achievements, focused attention on discrimination and taken action to forge gender parity. This year, the UN Women’s theme for IWD is Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls reminds us that there is still much to be done before gender equality is achieved.
Rights for women and girls include equal access to health services, information and treatment - free from discrimination. This extends beyond general healthcare to include services that address their specific needs, such as reproductive healthcare, maternal health support and menstrual health resources.
Regrettably, the gender health gap persists. Rooted in the historical underrepresentation of women in medical research and longstanding bias in healthcare, it results in poorer health outcomes, reduced access to appropriate care and lower-quality treatment for women.1 In the UK, these disparities are evident across a number of health conditions, including pain management, heart disease and mental health. There also remains a significant lack of awareness, research and services for conditions that disproportionately or only affect women, such as endometriosis and menopause.
At Beyond - as a predominantly female team - we are passionate about supporting disease awareness and patient empowerment in women’s health. We have devised and run numerous impactful, insight-driven campaigns to promote awareness and understanding of conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (which is more common in women), menopausal joint pain and female fertility.
We have a particular expertise in supporting women’s emotional and mental health. Women are three times more likely than men to experience common mental health problems and more than three times as likely to develop eating disorders. Young women are more likely to be affected by anxiety-related conditions than any other group.
Our experience in this area includes research into the long-term mental health impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, an expert round table and consensus report into the treatment of mild anxiety, and a campaign investigating the emotional well-being of menopausal women.
This IWD, we are proud to be playing our part in driving progress in women’s healthcare - championing greater awareness, addressing unmet needs and supporting meaningful change that improves the lives of women and girls.
If you are interested in learning more about the Beyond team’s work, contact us at hello@beyondpr.com