27 January 2025. We started off 2025 with another brilliant session of Food with Friends with a special focus on women’s health. Studies have shown that female migrants experience more negative health effects of migration than male migrants.*
Our guest speaker, Sam King, clinical manager and women’s health specialist from Trafalgar Medical Group Practice, shed light on a number of women’s health issues. She spoke on the signs and symptoms of breast, cervical and ovarian cancer. She also stressed the importance of mammograms and smear tests for those at risk and certain age groups.
Additionally, we invited Jane Jewell, Service Development Officer, Treetops, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to support the event. Jane briefly explained the service and shared information.
Inviting various health professionals not only empowers our migrant participants with essential knowledge of local services, it increases the likely success of healthcare interventions.
Our work in health education and food security through Food With Friends is part of our pilot to see how business can contribute to reducing health inequalities in the community.
Ethnic women who participated in our January Food with Friends were encouraged to ask questions, discuss and prioritise their health issues. We thank our guest speakers for patiently answering all the audience questions following their presentation.
We also asked the women to participate in our initial survey to start our Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) project on Barriers Faced by Migrant Women in Accessing Menopause Support.
The CPAR project is funded by NHS England’s School of Public Health and delivered by the Scottish Community Development Centre and the University of Reading. You can read more about the project here.
We also thank the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting Food With Friends.
*On migrant women and health outcomes, see Adanu RM, Johnson TR. Migration and women’s health. Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2009; 106: 179-181; and Lattof SR, Coast E, Leone T. Priorities and Challenges Accessing Health Care Among Female Migrants. Health Serv Insights. 2018 Oct 30.
