Monday, August 22, 2022

Policy paper: Women’s Health Strategy for England

The strategy paper published by the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 July 2022. Women’s Health Strategy for England, includes a section Information and awareness that starts by saying that
"Through the call for evidence, we heard of the importance of high-quality information provision – from school education through to support for adults. Overall, family or friends was the main source of health information (74%), followed by Google (71%), other online search engines and blogs (69%), GPs or healthcare professionals (59%), and the NHS (54%)."
The ambitions are that "girls and boys receive high-quality, evidence-based education on women’s health from an early age. ..... women and girls are empowered through access to education and information to maintain their health and wellbeing, and make informed decisions about their healthcare throughout their lives. .... information is accessible to all women and girls – in particular under-served populations or those who need materials in alternative and non-digital formats."
This recognition of the importance of information is welcome. What isn't so welcome is the fact that there appears to be not a single reference to libraries or librarians in the whole document. It also mentions NHS Digital, but not NHS Knowledge and Library Services (rather ironic, considering the 3rd ambition about including non-digital formats).
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/womens-health-strategy-for-england

Photo by Sheila Webber: perhaaps not best for women's health, but adding to quality of life: hot chocolate in a Butler's chocolate cafe, Dublin

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