Reshaping women’s health for the next generation

1 in 10 women in Wales have endometriosis, but do you know what it is? Women’s health is a topic filled with taboo: misunderstood, under-researched, and often, not thoroughly taught. We created What’s Women’s Health? to open up the conversation.

Women make up 51% of the population of Wales, and their experiences touch everyone. However, many young people face barriers to learning more. Some feel embarrassed, while others don’t know where to find reliable resources. As a result, many young people told us they felt left out of the conversation.

Creating the solution

NHS Wales is removing these barriers to empowerment. In 2024, they set out a 10-year Women’s Health Plan for Wales. The plan aims to equip young people and women of all ages with the information they need to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

Everglow partnered with NHS Wales to bring a new phase of this work to life. Our role was to create accessible, engaging materials for young people on women’s health, designed to be distributed through school nurses across Wales.

The project soon became a national collaboration. It brought together school nurses, youth panels, health boards, and young people from across Wales.

What we learnt

To shape the look and feel of the campaign, Everglow led insight gathering, co-creation, and testing with young people across Wales.  We distributed surveys to schools across Wales and facilitated an in-depth workshop with Pentrehafod School in Swansea.

We learned that the NHS stamp of approval really mattered to young people, but so did ensuring the content felt ‘meant for them’. Young people wanted visuals that felt approachable, colourful and calm. They wanted their questions answered, and for every interaction with the materials to leave them knowing more than when they started.

Many young people also told us they sometimes felt embarrassed about accessing this kind of information. In response, we designed discreet, confidence-building solutions. This includes incorporating memorable search terms and small-format information cards that young people could take away and access later.

No matter how confident young people feel, it’s important that the path to correct information is open to them.

What’s Women’s Health?

Working closely with young people, school nurses, and NHS teams, Everglow developed a fresh, colourful, and approachable campaign identity, framed around a question: What’s Women’s Health?

The campaign focuses on answering questions in a digestible format, providing young people with immediate information on women’s health conditions. We combined inclusive imagery with clear, reassuring language, helping to normalise conversations around women’s health and reduce feelings of shame or discomfort.

The printed materials direct young people to a dedicated microsite which houses trusted, NHS-approved resources. It’s designed to be youth-centred, using a Linktree-inspired format that young people already recognise and feel comfortable with.

All materials, including the microsite, are fully bilingual in Welsh and English, ensuring full accessibility for young people across Wales.

Launching the project

We joined the launch event at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales to share the final resources with the NHS Youth Board, who initially helped shape the direction of the resources.

Sarah Murphy, Minister for Health and Mental Wellbeing, attended the event, alongside government and NHS colleagues. The BBC later covered the event, marking an important moment in the ongoing rollout of the Women’s Health Plan for Wales.

The materials will be distributed to schools and youth organisations across Wales, enabling young people to access information as needed.

We look forward to seeing more young people empower themselves and their communities with the information in these resources.

Visit the microsite to access trusted, NHS-approved information on women’s health.