08 Mar 2021
This International Women's Day, we are recognising and celebrating some of the inspiring women in research and in our communities, working together to co-design interventions and approaches that address some of the most pressing societal and public health challenges.
IRIS: Can we improve the healthcare response to domestic violence and abuse?
Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is one of the most devastating health issues affecting women, and the number of women affected has increased during the COVID pandemic.
IRIS is a pioneering intervention, led by a predominantly female team, that improves the healthcare response to DVA, focused on the health, safety and experiences of the women affected.
IRIS encapsulates a training, support and referral programme that encourages clinicians to ask about DVA when clinically relevant, recognise DVA in a woman’s life, discuss its impact on her health and wellbeing, and offer referral to a specialist DVA service within that clinical setting.
Find out more about the impact so far of the IRIS intervention.
Learn more about the IRIS project.
Young Commissioners Model: Co-designing community-based services
The Young Commissioners model trains young people to work together with health and care professionals and commissioners to design improved health and care services.
The study recruited and worked with a group of young people living with diabetes in Newham, East London, training them in research skills so they could run community workshops, interview other young people living with diabetes, their families and healthcare professionals; and analyse feedback on how to improve local services.
The young people involved co-designed the methods and approaches that led to the development of the Young Commissioners model. This model provides a framework for involving young people in commissioning more appropriate health and social care, that they need and are more likely to use.
Learn more about its impact from some of the women - researchers and young commissioners - involved.
Learn more about the Young Commissioners project.
Promoting healthy nutrition in children of Bangladeshi origin in East London
Bangladeshi children living in east London have a much higher risk of poor nutrition and obesity than the average child in the UK, leading to longer-term health problems later in life, such as heart disease, poor oral health and diabetes.
Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) is a community-led approach to help improve nutrition when a child is 6 months -2 years old, a key time in their development.
The study trained community members as ‘community researchers’ to recruit members of their community, interview them, and analyse and interpret the findings. This included introducing female health workers into local women’s groups, based on the WHO-recommended Participatory Learning and Action cycle.
This inclusive, co-designed approach has led to improved nutrition and feeding practices, maternal and neonatal survival rates, and has informed Local Authority early year programmes.
Learn more about the impact of NEON from the women leading it.
Learn more about the NEON project.
This year’s International Women’s Day campaign theme is #ChoosetoChallenge. A challenged world is an alert world and, individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. Visit the International Women’s Day website to learn more, raise your hand and use #ChoosetoChallenge to show your commitment to challenging inequality, and helping to forge an inclusive world.
