Delivering new priorities for women’s health in 2024

The health secretary’s recent announcement of women’s health priorities12 includes a welcome focus on preconception and postnatal care, the “book ends” of pregnancy.3 The question now is how to translate this into action and reduce health inequalities. Recent experience provides a few answers.An integrated care board in England (Bedford, Luton, Milton Keynes) allocated health inequalities funding to deliver a comprehensive preconception programme across the health and care system. Within 12 months, it had raised awareness in diverse communities, trained primary and secondary care health professionals, and implemented new postnatal contraception pathways.Health visitors have a unique role with universal reach: nine months after childbirth, 97% of families have seen a health visitor, compared with 88% seeing a midwife or general practitioner, and less than 15% accessing family hubs, children’s centres, family support worker, or early help workers.4 At child development reviews (at 9 months and 2.5 years), one or two in…
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