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HEALTH
Health (still) Matters! In 2016, Women in Prison launched Health Matters, a project set up to provide women in prisons and in the community with support, advice, and information about their health. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF), Health Matters was able to run for three years. As the project came to an end in November 2019, WIP’s Sofia Gullberg reflects on its successes.
E
mpowering and supporting women to have a better understanding of their health was at the heart of the Health Matters campaign. Health Matters set out to shift attitudes among women in prison and in the community, by highlighting the importance of looking after your mental and physical wellbeing. Support workers and advocates of the campaign worked with women and healthcare staff to assist with hands-on things, such as ensuring women got the appointments they needed, and clarifying any confusion
or misunderstandings around their health. Support workers were also able to give reliable information and advice about women’s health issues; a support worker was often another person for women to talk to about their health. A highlight of the project was the WIP health booklet produced in Summer 2018, titled Health Matters! The booklet was made with the help of women we supported in prisons and the wider community and included lots of advice and information on a number of health matters.
