Black Female Doctors UK

Menopause, as an issue, lies at the intersection of gender, sex, reproduction, ageing, public health and economy, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. For many, menopausal transition can be associated with unpleasant symptoms and physical/psychological changes that negatively impact quality of life and have implications for long term health. Some may face discrimination and exclusion at social and economic levels at this stage of life. There has been a significant recent focus in the media on menopause and the difficulties of living through the menopausal transition for some individuals, with its impact on quality of life and work productivity. This presents an opportunity to create more awareness of menopause-related health and quality of life. However, more work needs to be done to address inequalities that exist in relation to access to evidence-based healthcare, as well as workplace and social support for individuals across various sociocultural backgrounds, those with neurodiversity and for transgender, non-binary and gender- fluid individuals. Last week, I was lucky to be part of events that focussed on the need for such change! The need to recognise inequalities and work towards making space for menopause experiences for everyone. One such event was the Equity in Menopause Festival. Thank you each and every one of you who was there at this event and made it a success and a unique learning experience for me 🙏. Dr Yansie Rolston Dr. Aziza Sesay Meera Bhogal Claire Phipps fiona clark Dr Wendy Molefi Natasha Hayles Sheree Hargreaves Rose Matthews Katie Day Dr. Nalini Kaushik Emma Thomas 🔥 Jenny Gimpel For more thoughts on these issues - https://lnkd.in/dFVEHruX

When @KhadijatouDoyneh started playing the drums at the opening of the Equity in Menopause Festival, I knew this day was going to be spectacular. A week ago, we celebrated the Equity in Menopause Festival in London, coinciding with International Menopause Day. This event was not just about raising awareness of menopause; it was a powerful platform for empowering those often overlooked in these conversations, including women of colour, individuals with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The festival was an incredible gathering of experts—from doctors to health and wellness advocates—who inspired attendees to take action and amplify their voices. We discussed the importance of ensuring that women can thrive during this phase of life, advocating for their right to remain in the workplace without feeling pressured to leave due to menopausal symptoms. I had the privilege of speaking on gut health with @Dr NituBajeka and its significance in the menopause journey. It's vital that we continue these conversations and create supportive environments where all women feel seen, heard, and valued. Huge congratulations to Dr Yansie Rolston, who's dreamt about an event like this for over 10 years! 🎉 🎉 🎉 Vikram Sinai Talaulikar's opening speech was both encouraging and sensitive to why many women of colour do not enter research projects. He highlighted the necessity of making change happen. Elaine Banton talked about the importance of workplace support for women in menopause and the need to advocate for oneself. Rose Matthews shared her personal story about the impact of menopause and autism, which was heartfelt. Thought-provoking and empowering spoken word by @DJRitu MBE and @AmandaInniss and songs by DavinaSongbird. Thank you to @TheDivettes  @DaneGulston and @DJSuperTrini, because I increased my steps because I couldn't stop dancing to the music and continued dancing untill the end of the night. Thank you to Dr Yansie Rolston, Blackfemaledrsuk BFDUK Maureen Anderson, @Debi LewinsonRoberts and Dr. Aziza Sesay for all your efforts to create such an incredible event!

I had the absolute privilege of attending the first ever Equity in Menopause Festival last week. A groundbreaking event focused on reaching marginalised communities - Women of Colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, those with disabilities, migrant women, and more - who are often overlooked during discussions around menopause. I had the pleasure of leading two workshops, but the highlight was connecting with so many incredible people who are just as fired up about smashing stigmas and taboos around women’s health and menopause, while pushing for greater equity in care. There was so much energy and passion in one space! Thank you to Blackfemaledrsuk BFDUK, You & Me_nopause, Dr. Aziza Sesay and Dr Yansie Rolston for holding such a great event. I left feeling empowered and even more committed to making strides in improving women’s health care. As always, it was great to see some familiar faces and make new connections! Itunuoluwa Johnson-Sogbetun Nitu Bajekal Rohini Bajekal Lavina Mehta MBE Dawn Heels Elaine Banton Tanya Simon-Hall Clotilde Rebecca Abe fiona clark Natalie Campbell #EquityInHealth #MenopauseAwareness #WorldMenopauseDay #WomensHealth #perimenopause #BreakingBarriers #HealthEquity

What a pleasure to attend the #EquityinMenopause festival on #WorldMenopauseDay! At age 26, you might wonder why I'd be there, but menstrual health is a lifelong journey—it doesn't just stop at periods. 🩸 I hosted a workshop (and piggy-backed a few!), as well as a pop-up with Bloody Good Period, tackling period stigma and breaking taboos. Spaces like these, especially for black and brown communities, are rare but essential. I thought to myself “Where else would I have had access to all of this information? And to all of the experts in this room?” We deserve access to knowledge about our bodies without barriers. I'm so grateful for the empowering discussions. Thank you again Dr Yansie Rolston for inviting me down!! Thank you Dr. Aziza Sesay, and Blackfemaledrsuk BFDUK. Here’s to more events like this! Lovely meeting new and familiar faces!! Amari Leigh, Dawn Heels, Tanya Simon-Hall, Itunuoluwa Johnson-Sogbetun, Le'Nise Brothers, Tosin Sotubo-Ajayi, Katherine Jennings, Hannah Marcus 🤗 #MenstrualHealth #RepresentationMatters

It was great to be part of the Equity in Menopause Festival on World Menopause Day - a truely groundbreaking first of its kind event for marginalised communities - Women of Colour, LGBTQ+, individuals with disabilities, migrant women, Black & Asian communities - who are often overlooked and not represented during discussions around menopause. You know how much I believe in breaking down barriers, representation, education and addressing inequalities in menopause - so I was thrilled to be a speaker and have my own workshop on Movement & Menopause. It’s so important for us to see and hear from women that look like us. We then feel safe, we feel safe to share, we feel heard and we feel supported. The whole atmosphere of the festival was so warm and welcoming… and I was thrilled that my workshop was intimate & I wanted to create a safe space for us to just open up, share our experiences, discuss and educate on health concerns and feel supported with some practical solutions… Thank you to the lovely group I had and especially to one lady who was really struggling with her menopause and severe pain - she broke into tears at the end (and so did I) as she found the confidence to start moving with some simple chair based exercise snacks & she’s going to do my free YouTube workouts… Well done to Black Female Doctors UK Dr Yansie Rolston Dr. Aziza Sesay YouandMe_nopause for creating this much needed day of learning, connecting, celebrating and advocating for change. Lovely to see so many friends and to make many new ones too! I’m looking forward to more vital events like this please! #EquityinMenopause #WorldMenopauseDay #menopause #black #southasian #representation #healthequity #representation #inclusivity #perimenopause #movement #exercisesnacks #lifetsyle #workshop #speaker Karen Arthur Geeta Nayar Nadia Nagamootoo (she/her) Petra Coveney Emma Thomas 🔥 fiona clark Wellbeing of Women Dawn Heels Itunuoluwa Johnson-Sogbetun Vikram Sinai Talaulikar Lesley Regan Janet Lindsay BUKKY AYOADE Nitu Bajekal Tosin Sotubo-Ajayi

Day 22 of menopause awareness month: today's reflection on the Equity in Menopause event last week...representation matters... Friday's event was organised by Dr Yansie Rolston and Blackfemaledrsuk BFDUK - Yansie is also the co-editor of this book - Black and Menopausal - with Yvonne Christie plus the set of prompt cards that you can see below. If you have a resource library at your organization, does it represent your community? Do you need to add this book? We also heard from Dr Wendy Molefi, Dr Eneh Jones, Vikram Sinai Talaulikar and so many more (and Maureen Anderson great to meet you in person).... A few take aways from the day were: - there are (for good structural/historical reasons) levels of mistrust between Black women and the medical/research community that can make it hard to access care and impacts levels of engagement in research projects; - this means the data that is needed is often lacking (so let researchers in the Black community carry out that research instead of just handing them a survey and asking them to share it); - Black women experience menopause differently, reaching menopause earlier and having symptoms for ten years or more (see link below to the SWAN study) Thank you, again, Yansie and team, for a day full of information, joy, good food and great music!

As you can see from the video it was an absolute joy to attend the first Equity in Menopause Festival in London on #WorldMenopauseDay and to speak about my personal experience of #AutisticMenopause and the Bridging the Silos: Autistic Menopause Study I have been working on. Our first peer-reviewed research paper has been published: https://lnkd.in/ehQAyfvX Two further peer-reviewed papers are due out soon - we will post links on our website: https://lnkd.in/eHJYiigs The festival programme was filled with informative sessions and there were lots of wonderful stalls and creative activities to engage with too. I was there from early until late celebrating the progress we are making towards equity in menopause, acknowledging our strengths and the potential for positive transformation. Being in the same space as so many other people who are working towards #menopause #equity was incredibly empowering. The collective energy felt amazing. Many thanks to Dr Yansie Rolston for inviting me, to Dr. Aziza Sesay for facilitating the panel discussion I took part in, and to everyone who attended and made it such a fabulous day. I am really looking forward to following up on all the conversations and connections.

Thank you so much Blackfemaledrsuk BFDUK, Dr. Aziza Sesay Dr Yansie Rolston for inviting me to come and fly the flag for the Menopause Research and Education Fund at your incredible Equity in Menopause event on World Menopause Day. It was an excellent event with great speakers including our trustee Vikram Sinai Talaulikar alongside Dr Wendy Molefi Sheree Hargreaves , Lesley Regan , Nitu Bajekal & Vanessa Johnson-Burgess FCIPD (she/her) , Claire Phipps , Dr Wendy Molefi and so many more - all pushing for greater research and education and ending inequity in women’s health, and in this case around menopause. And this is so important in under represented communities who have higher rates of dementia, diabetes and heart disease - all of which can be affected by menopause and declining hormones. So, thank you again for having me! (The food and poetry was amazing too, by the way.)

I had the privilege of spending three powerful hours facilitating a conversation on menopause and intimacy with the amazing Marie Morice MSc, CSC at the Equity in Menopause Festival, hosted by Black Female Doctors UK, @youandme_nopause, Dr Yansie Rolston, and Dr. Aziza Sesay on World Menopause Day. The event created a safe, inclusive space where we dove deep into so many essential conversations—covering everything from menstruation to menopause—highlighting the often-overlooked experiences of Black and Women of Colour, LGBTQIA+ communities, those with disabilities, and more. The discussion on menopause and female s*xuality was nothing short of eye-opening. It was a joy to hold space for such intimate, complex topics that impact so many women and individuals across diverse communities. ✨❤️ Feeling truly inspired by the openness, knowledge, and support shared. Grateful to have been part of this groundbreaking event and looking forward to many more!! Dawn Heels, Tanya Simon-Hall, Rose Matthews, Sheree Hargreaves, Dr. Jane Simmons, Dr Linia Patel (PhD), Lavina Mehta MBE, Aaliyah Kelly-Hibbert, Scarlett Langdon #WorldMenopauseDay #EquityInMenopause #MenopauseMatters #WomenEmpowerment #InclusiveHealthcare

Listening and learning at the Equity in Menopause event today, with a great panel this morning chaired by Dr. Aziza Sesay with Dr Yansie Rolston, Vikram Sinai Talaulikar, Dr Wendy Molefi, Rose Matthews and Sheree Hargreaves making the case for closing the data, research, education and lived experience gaps and disparities around menopause. Looking forward to this afternoon's panel on menopause in the workplace with Dame Lesley Regan, Nitu Bajekal and Vanessa Johnson-Burgess FCIPD (she/her). Nice to see The Eve Appeal and Bloody Good Period along with fiona clark and Claire Phipps from the Menopause Research and Education Fund. So much more work to do, including more research and data collection along with reliable, accessible information and support for everyone who needs it.