Dr Wendy Jones MBE, Author, and Pharmacist I was born above a community pharmacy. The daughter and niece of pharmacists before me, there was never any doubt about what I “wanted to do when I grew up”. When I had my daughters, I became equally passionate about breastfeeding, quickly afterward deciding to qualify as a…
Perspective
Pre-Pregnancy Health within Primary Care
Our society thinks and acts as if avoiding pregnancy or being pregnant are the only options. What gets overlooked are the benefits of preparing well for pregnancy,
Post Pandemic – What Now for Relationship, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education?
Dr Colin Morrison is a partner in TASC (Scotland) and the lead developer of the national RSHP resource. He has a longstanding interest in children’s human rights, health and wellbeing. He has worked as a teacher, youth worker, play worker and adult educator. His doctoral study explored relationships and sexual health education for children and young people with learning disabilities.
Don’t presume women with chronic conditions don’t want babies
Dr Karin Hammarberg is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She is a Registered Nurse with 20 years’ experience as clinical co-ordinator of IVF programs. Karin’s main research interests are fertility and preconception health promotion; the psychosocial aspects of infertility and infertility treatment; the health and development of children born as a result of assisted conception; and women’s health.
Preconception health was a Ruairidh success!
Some transitions are more than memorable; they are life-changing. Graduating from university last year would have been a treasured memory under any circumstances, and yet, what made it transformational wasn’t that I achieved a first-class honours degree in Food Nutrition and Health at Abertay University. It was Ruairidh’s birth. With my degree in one hand…
Vitamin D: Scotland’s much-needed sunshine supplement
This blog is co-authored by Fiona MacKay, a retired nurse who worked for Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service for nearly 20 years and is now working as a vaccinator in NHS Lothian, and Helga Rhein, a retired Edinburgh GP, who worked at Muirhouse Medical Group, Access Practice and latterly at Sighthill Health Centre, before volunteering…
Physical activity before the first or next pregnancy
Dr Zhong Eric Chen, Reproductive Health Researcher and Fitness Instructor is a member of the Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives steering group. His blog tackles the importance of physical activity in relation to pregnancy and pre-conception health. In writing my first-ever blog, I acknowledge the possible sensitivity in talking about physical activity, weight, (in)fertility, pregnancies, and…
Asking Women What They Want and Nurses/Midwives What They Know
Michele Stranger Hunter was the Founder and National Program Director for One Key Question in the USA. Her work on reproductive and preconception health is respected internationally. OKQ has become ‘best practice’ and successfully implemented in more than thirty states. Scotland must create its own approach and solutions based upon our cultural, policy, and professional…
Hiding in Plain Sight
Joan Gracie is a Supervisor for the Family Nurse Partnership with NHS Forth Valley. Joan talks about the importance of addressing blind spots in preconception health and why she wanted to get involved in QNIS’ new programme of work Healthier Pregnancies, Better Lives to support women to better prepare for pregnancy. Over the past 30 years…
Meaningful Action on Alcohol Harm
Alison Douglas is the Chief Executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland. Alison shares her view on the unhealthy relationship with alcohol which persists in our communities, unintended harm caused by alcohol and the preventative measures we can take to reduce these risks. “Alcohol is celebrated throughout our society and culture. Yet the harm caused by alcohol…
