Supercharging prevention, prioritising women’s health: how can intimate health education help the government deliver on NHS pledges?
Mike Knowland, General Manager and Cluster Lead for Northern Europe including the UK & Ireland, Bayer Consumer Health
| Bayer
If the new government is to meet manifesto pledges on women’s health and realise a whole-system shift from sickness to prevention, it must take cross-government action to enhance provision of lifelong education around vulval anatomy and vaginal health. Only by recognising intimate health education as a cornerstone of women’s health can we empower girls and women to understand their body without metaphor, euphemism, oversimplification and sexualisation.
Let’s talk intimate health
Currently, only 6 per cent of women report learning about their intimate health through school and university education,1 and almost half of UK women are worried about the appearance of their vulva.2 This lack of understanding about what is ‘normal’, including when it might be necessary to seek medical attention, can lead to unintended yet harmful consequences – not least the delayed diagnosis of gynaecological conditions, including cancers. The Eve Appeal’s Get Lippy survey reported only 5 per cent of women have a good understanding of gynaecological cancers,3 highlighting the repercussions of limited education.
This gap, in combination with the social media revolution, has meant that young girls and women are increasingly looking to online sources for advice about their bodies – including on their intimate health. While online sources can be an effective tool for trusted providers, the accompanying risks of young people being exposed to harmful misinformation are only too well documented.
Aspiration versus reality
It couldn’t be clearer: the lack of a robust approach to intimate health education risks perpetuating misinformation, over-sexualisation, and confusion on how to look after intimate health, including when symptoms warrant medical care to facilitate early intervention.
It is true that the dial on women’s health is shifting. The Women’s Health Strategy, published in 2022, set a welcome ambition to break taboos and ensure “girls and boys receive high-quality, evidence-based education on menstrual and gynaecological health from an early age”.4
More recently, however, this vision has not been replicated across government. Members of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), women’s health and young people’s health communities have expressed concerns that the draft revised statutory guidance for RSHE, published under the previous government in May 2024, “falls short of what is required to help keep children safe, healthy and prepared for modern life”.5 In particular, while the introduction of additional content on gynaecological health must be applauded in theory, the proposed age restrictions could undermine the preventative role of RSHE – and reinforce the very taboos the Women’s Health Strategy set out to tackle.
The new government has made encouraging affirmations to place children’s well-being at the heart of RSHE – with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson recently asserting that all children should have a good level of relationship, sex and health education. More broadly, it’s also welcome to see Lord Darzi’s recent investigation into NHS performance recognise the need to “empower patients to take as much control of their care as possible”,6 in order to build a sustainable health system.
However, to meet its campaign promise that “never again will women’s health be neglected”,7 Labour must now ensure that the RSHE curriculum is working in tandem with women’s health policy. Only through a cross-government approach can we support girls and women to understand their intimate health and look after their bodies. From helping women to self-care for more common intimate health conditions, to ensuring that symptoms of gynaecological cancers are spotted as early as possible, the benefits are clear.
What needs to happen now?
First, the Department for Education (DfE) should pay full consideration to the feedback and concerns of expert stakeholders on RSHE, young people’s health and women’s health in relation to the ongoing review of the RSHE curriculum. As part of this process, it should take a holistic view across the life course to identify current gaps in the curriculum, and how it can evolve to set every young woman up for lifelong health and wellbeing.
We know there is appetite among teachers for content on intimate health education. Bayer has recently worked with the PSHE Association, a national education body, to develop tiered, evidence-based lesson plans about vulval anatomy and vaginal health for pupils aged 11-18. These provide an accurate and inclusive introduction to intimate health, with choice for teachers between versions with photographs, realistic illustrations, or without imagery – but always avoiding metaphor and sexualisation. The lesson plans have been welcomed by 100 per cent of teachers taking part in a pilot, who reported that teacher guidance was helpful and that learning was appropriate to the target age cohorts. The lesson plans form part of our wider initiative, The Truth, Undressed, aimed at plainly and accurately sharing the truth about intimate health.
Second, the DfE must equip teachers with clear and consistent training that helps them feel confident teaching the full breadth of the RSHE curriculum. This is particularly pivotal when looking at women’s health education, a topic that has for too long been stigmatised across society, from menstruation to menopause and beyond.
Finally, the Departments of Health and Social Care, Education and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport must establish a cross-departmental working group to facilitate a truly joined-up approach to tackling misinformation in women’s health across the life course – taking into account the unstoppable rise of social media.
Empowering women to understand their intimate health is itself a key pillar in prioritising women’s health, and ultimately supporting the shift from sickness to prevention. The new government has a unique opportunity to transform women’s intimate health: it starts with education.
1. Superdrug Online Doctor. Tackling Health Misinformation on Social Media. Accessed September 2024.
2. Bayer. Data on file. Accessed September 2024.
3. The Eve Appeal. Get Lippy survey 2023. Accessed September 2024.
4. Department of Health and Social Care. Women’s Health Strategy for England. August 2022. Accessed September 2024.
5. PSHE Strategic Partners Group. RSHE guidance joint position statement. Accessed September 2024.
6. The Rt Hon. Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham OM KBE FRS FMedSci HonFREng. Independent Investigation of the National Health Service in England. September 2024. Accessed September 2024.
7. The Labour Party. Change: Labour Party Manifesto 2024. Accessed September 2024.
8. Bayer. Data on file. Accessed September 2024.
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