School taught me about bank accounts but not breast exams

Young women say they were taught how to open a bank account in school, but not how to change a tampon or spot signs of cancer.

"As a person from an ethnic minority background, in some communities it's actually taboo and quite a sensitive topic to talk about, so if you're not able to learn about these things in school, then where do you learn?" said 23-year-old Athika Ahmed.

She was among the young people across Wales involved in the design of new school resources to increase understanding of the most common women's health conditions.

Leaflets and posters will be available to secondary schools covering menstrual health, endometriosis, pelvic health and menopause.

As a member of the Cardiff and Vale health board's youth panel, Athika said they were able to help shape the information in those resources.

She said she was nervous about speaking to her parents when she started her periods at a very young age, but not being able to get support in school also left her feeling "a step behind".

She was left with questions such as "when to change your pad, what type of pad you want to use, or the different types of products".

"I didn't know the difference between a pad and a tampon," she said.

"Simple things like hygiene would help young people get a grasp of these things and become the confident young women they could be."

The menstrual cycle is already a mandatory part of the curriculum in Wales, but this is the first time material has been designed to include conditions such as endometriosis, which affects about 155,000 women in Wales.

The resources include basic information but also direct young people to online resources such as Sexual Health Wales, Brook, Bloody Brilliant and Endometriosis Cymru.

Molly Fenton also sits on the youth panel and said her periods were an early clue to more serious health issues.

"I live with a brain tumour that has an impact on my optic nerve and my pituitary gland, the home of your hormones and my periods were one of the first signs," she said, adding that she had her first bleed when she was six, before her periods started at eight.

"They really did take over my life, then I lost them when I was 16, which had massive detrimental effects to all parts of my body and I live with long term damage because of that, so my periods were a massive driving force in getting a diagnosis and the support that I needed.

"We are still hearing so many people that can't even say the word period, or poo, for example.

"Having that conversation could be the starter. Mine's a very unique situation, not everyone will get diagnosed with a brain tumour or something really serious, but being able to have those conversations and advocate for yourself is huge and these materials have to fill the gap to make that happen."

Natalie McDonald, a specialist community public health nurse in Cardiff and Vale, said young people will typically want advice about symptoms, rather than specific conditions.

She said school nurses are now being given training in things such as endometriosis, to better signpost young people, but also to reach out to family members or teachers where appropriate, to help them understand the impact on young people.

"Some of the young people we see in schools quite often won't go to their GP, or there's barriers.

"So we try and develop a therapeutic, trusting relationship, so these new resources will empower our message."

The resources are a result of the women's health strategy for Wales which was published a year ago.

Elen, 17, said boys on the youth panel played a big part in contributing to the design of the new resources, though typically boys and girls are still separated for these lessons in school.

"There's almost a stigma about it, and you'll listen in different rooms, which shows you think it's only relevant to one gender, which of course isn't true," she said.

"Everyone has relatives who will go through these things. A lot of people around me suffer with endometriosis or are struggling with the menopause, so a basic understanding from a young age is important."

Sarah Murphy, Welsh minister for mental health and wellbeing, said women's health pathfinder hubs are expected to come online "in the next few months" building on existing services to "create a tertiary level support".

"The biggest change that we are going to see is in the training (for healthcare professionals) and the change in how women are going to be treated.

"That's the key part of the whole of the women's health strategy – not to be dismissed, not to have our pain dismissed, and to know these services are there and how to access them. That's what every health board is going to deliver."