Health Awareness Initiatives

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱. 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱. In 2019, I went to the ER three times in one week. • The first time: “You’re dehydrated.” • The second time: “We have no idea; here are some antibiotics.” • The third time: “Maybe it’s cancer.” Needless to say, I wasn't feeling well. My symptoms were all over the place: My thinking was foggy, simple walking was exhausting, I felt lightheaded all day long, and I felt pins and needles all over my body. After cancer was ruled out, I was told my labs looked “normal” and referred to a psychologist. In my despair, I even went. After my second session, the psychologist and I both agreed: there was nothing wrong with my mental health. Ten doctors later, someone finally asked about my lifestyle. Within hours, I had the answer: a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. A simple test. A simple fix. But it was completely overlooked. And my story isn’t rare. Here’s why this keeps happening: • 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲 → For decades, research and diagnostics leaned male. Symptoms that don’t fit the “standard template” (like heart attacks in women, often presenting without chest pain) get missed. • 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽𝘀 → Endometriosis, PCOS, perimenopause, and countless other women’s health issues remain under-taught in medical training. Providers aren’t equipped to recognize them quickly. • 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 → 5-10 minutes per patient forces doctors into quick fixes. Not malice, but overwhelm. This makes it easy to dismiss or overlook important clues. So, what can you do if this happens to you? This is inspired by Dr Karan Rajan, who posted a fantastic video about this topic a couple of months ago.  • 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 & 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆: Track your symptoms over time, bring notes, and highlight changes you observe. These are harder to dismiss than vague descriptions. Write down your questions in advance so you don’t forget them under pressure. Preparation also helps reduce stress and keeps the conversation focused. • 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳: Ask open questions like “What else could this be?” or “Why are we ruling this out?” These shift the dynamic from passive to active. Remember: your doctor is the expert in medicine, but you are the expert in your own body. That doesn’t diminish their knowledge; it strengthens the partnership when you demand both perspectives to work together. • 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲: If something doesn’t feel right, don’t stop there. Request a second opinion, ask for a referral to a specialist, or reach out to experts, clinics, and advocacy groups. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for your health is to refuse to settle for “nothing’s wrong” when you know something is. This isn’t patients vs. doctors. It’s about giving you tools and strategies when the system falls short. Because sometimes the difference between “you’re fine” and the real answer is persistence.

What does poor mental health look like 🤷🏾♀️ Seclusion Crying all the time Paranoia Insomnia Poor hygiene Lateness Anger Confusion Sadness Not all the time 🙁 Sometimes, it can look like Full-face of make-up Unlimited availability Life and soul of the party Smiling Caring for others ‘Ok’ Having mental health conditions or mental health challenges can affect us all…. It does affect us all at some point in our lives! Whether that be because of life events, childhood trauma, socioeconomic background, work stress, children, marriage, parents or health! No one is exempt, and that's why we need to normalise speaking openly about our mental health! This picture was taken at the end of 2022, one of my worst years of my life! Me and my family had gone through a horrific experience, and I wasn't coping well! Can you tell?? 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️ Nope! You couldn't tell because I didn't want you to! So I hid it, smiled, went to events, announced promotions, went out to dinners, and did the school run… all whilst battling with my mental health! I soon realised it wasn't sustainable and checked myself into therapy 🤫🤫🤫 Hmmm Therapy! When I was growing up, you could never admit to going to therapy, especially within the Black community! It was seen as taboo and only for ‘crazy’ people 😢🤷🏾♀️😞 I often think about the people I grew up with who desperately needed therapy but couldn’t ask for help 😔 Today, things are different! You have apps like BetterHelp that have made therapy more accessible; companies now cover therapy and counselling as part of their private health care, and mental health is more widely acknowledged and spoken about! You are not alone; you don’t have to be! You don’t have to fight alone; it’s ok not to be ok ❤️ Rather than ask you to check on a friend or family member, during this week of mental health awareness, I will ask you to check in with yourself! ❤️💙💖💛💚 How are you feeling? Do you need to speak to someone? Do you need a mental health day? What do you need at this present moment to aid your mental health? #mentalhealthawarenessweek #letstalkaboutit #mentalhealth #inclusion #diversity #workstress

Hello from a CEO who struggles with their mental health 👋. Here are some things you should know about me ⬇️ 1️⃣ I’ve been blessed with two conditions. I have generalised anxiety and OCD which makes me constantly wired and frustrated. 🧠 2️⃣ I have allowed my perfectionism to completely consume me - to the point of where it nearly destroyed me. 🎯 3️⃣ I have done therapy for years - but medications are a new addition for me. I had a lot of self stigma about medications that I had to overcome - but they have made a huge difference. 💊 4️⃣ I don’t trust my own brain most of the time - so I automate my behaviours as much as possible (like running, getting my partner to hide my phone, journaling). This means I give myself my best change against self sabotage. 🏃🏼♂️ 5️⃣ I gave up alcohol nearly two years ago because it stole happiness from tomorrow. 🍻 6️⃣ Just when I think I’ve got it figured out, something new begins to take. I’m constantly amazed how I have to learn new strategies to keep myself well. Accepting this makes it a lot easier. 🌪️ 7️⃣ Two things remain constant in making me feel better - purpose and connection. Having a cause that is bigger than me, and being around people which allows me to step outside my own head is so critical for my wellbeing. 💬 I’m glad we have events like #MentalHealthAwareness week to allow us to reflect - but we need to start moving the dial beyond window shopping wellbeing in how we talk about our feelings. 🪟 Being vulnerable and authentic in how we talk about our experiences in this messy world is the only way forward for us. 🔏 We’re complex, multifaceted beings, who have been given the opportunity to feast on the richness of the human experience - the good and bad alike. 🍽️ We should embrace that, not be ashamed by it.

New BMJ Global Health Commentary: Governing Health Systems With a Gender Lens I’m pleased to share a new BMJ Global Health commentary, written with my colleagues Aya Thabet and Anna Cocozza, on a topic that urgently needs attention: How health system governance can close—or widen—the women’s health gap. Women around the world experience, on average, nine additional years of poor health compared with men. This disparity is not just a clinical issue. It is a governance issue. For decades, health systems have relied on a narrow definition of women’s health, focusing predominantly on maternal and reproductive care. This has left significant gaps in areas such as chronic disease, mental health, menopause, autoimmune conditions, gender-based violence, and more. Our article argues that governance itself must change if we want health systems to deliver for women. Using the WHO’s Six Governance Behaviours framework, we examine how governments, regulators, and purchasers can integrate a gender lens into the rules, incentives, and decision-making processes that shape health systems. Here are some of the key insights: 1. Deliver strategy with measurable commitments Clear definitions, dedicated budgets, and accountability mechanisms across both the public and private sectors must back equity goals. 2. Build understanding through sex-disaggregated data If systems don’t collect it, they can’t govern it. Mandatory sex-disaggregated data and transparency are essential to closing gaps. 3. Enable stakeholders by aligning incentives Financing arrangements—particularly strategic purchasing—can reward equitable, women-centred care rather than perpetuating neglect. 4. Align structures through gender-responsive regulation Licensing, training, essential medicines lists, and facility standards must explicitly reflect women’s health needs across the life course. 5. Foster relations with meaningful partnerships Women’s organisations, professional associations, and patient groups are indispensable partners in designing governance arrangements that work. 6. Nurture trust with strong accountability systems Women must have access to safe, responsive grievance and redress mechanisms—and regulators must consistently enforce protections. Why this matters Health systems are not gender-neutral. Without intentional design, the rules and incentives that govern them will continue to reproduce inequalities. By applying a gender lens to governance, we can reposition women’s health as a core system priority, not a side issue—and build accountability for equitable, respectful, high-quality care. Governing Health Systems With a Gender Lens BMJ Global Health – Clarke, Thabet & Cocozza https://lnkd.in/dwXNka4a Join the conversation #WomensHealth #GenderEquity #HealthSystems #GlobalHealth #HealthGovernance #HealthPolicy #UniversalHealthCoverage #UHC #DigitalHealth #HealthReform #HealthEquity #Accountability #Regulation #StrategicPurchasing #BMJGlobalHealth

Vulva cupcakes are cute and all, but International Women’s Day is about more than sugar coating things. If we want a world where women are not just included, but valued and protected, we need to redesign the system—from the lab, to the clinic, to the boardrooms where decisions are made. When we talk about the gender health gap, what does it actually mean? Let me explain.... Imagine you’re in a car. The seatbelt, the airbags, the crash tests—they’ve all been designed for a 70kg man. But you’re not a 70kg man. So when you crash, you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured than a man. That’s not a hypothetical. That’s real. That’s how safety standards are built. Now take that same design flaw and apply it to medicine. Imagine your parents. Your father has chest pain and walks into an emergency room. The doctors immediately check for a heart attack, because that’s the "classic" symptom. Your mother walks in with the same heart problem, but her symptoms look different—nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath. She’s told it’s anxiety or indigestion and sent home. She is twice as likely to die after a heart attack than your father. Across 700+ diseases, women are diagnosed later than men—meaning by the time they finally get the right treatment, the disease has had more time to progress. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the result of a system that was designed without women in mind. This is not just about fairness. This is about survival. But here’s the good news: we are finally changing the system. At Hertility, we refuse to accept a world where women are an afterthought in healthcare. Through personalised and preventative diagnostic care, we are closing the gender health gap by providing answers in days, not decades. 💡 We can diagnose over 18 conditions with 99% accuracy in just 8 days—conditions that, in the traditional system, might take years of misdiagnosis and medical gaslighting to uncover. 📊 We empower women with data-driven insights about their reproductive and hormonal health, so they can take control of their bodies before symptoms spiral into serious diseases. 🏥 We provide life-stage health care from testing to telemedicine to treatments- from menstruation through to menopause. Women’s health is not a side issue. It’s our mothers, our sisters, our daughters. And if we continue using a seatbelt that wasn’t designed for them, we’ll keep watching them crash. This International Women’s Day, let’s not just celebrate women—let’s fight for them. #ReproductiveRevolution #ScienceMeetLife #AccelerateAction #InternationalWomensDay #GenderHealthGap #Hertility

How are you reading this post right now? Are you holding your phone? Reading it on your laptop, tablet or desktop? If you want to leave a like or comment, how do you do this? I use speech to text software and without this, I wouldn’t be able to do my job. This is why #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay is a big one for me. There are billions of people with disabilities or impairments, many of whom won’t have the digital access they need. If you suddenly lost the use of your hands, I imagine you’d want to carry on doing normal things like working, texting, and using the internet. All things that use your hands. Digital accessibility would help you do this, and now that you’ve imagined how important it would be, now you have an idea of how important it is to us. This is why access to computers is important. This is why reasonable adjustments are important. This is why accessible websites are important. This is why it’s worth investing in accessible technology. #GAAD #Inclusion #Accessibility

Unless you yourself, or a friend, family member, colleague, etc. is Disabled or Neurodivergent, you might not fully grasp the importance of accessibility. Let’s be honest, how many of us were taught about accessibility in education? How many of us are taught about accessibility at work? And I don’t just mean generic things like “it helps Disabled people,” but rather how to embed accessibility into your everyday? Because we’re not taught about accessibility, most of us are oblivious to the fact that, by making small changes, we can actually begin to include a lot more people. For example, when posting an image online, adding alt text (a description of the image which helps screen reader users create a mental picture of your image) and an image description (unlike alt text, this is visible to everyone) creates a more inclusive experience for many. You see, accessibility isn’t about doing one thing for everyone, it means different things to different people. Disability is diverse, as are our needs. Believing there’s a one-size-fits-all solution to accessibility is like serving one snack at a dinner party, someone’s going to go hungry and feel left out. 15 May is Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Use this month to learn about accessibility, not just the surface-level stuff, but real, practical ways to take action and embed accessibility into your content and your work. Speaking of which, if you're looking for a speaker or trainer this month to help bring your accessibility vision to life, I am your rhino! Image description: A dark-background infographic by Disabled by Society titled “Accessibility Isn’t Just About Doing The Right Thing, It’s About…” featuring 12 colourful icons, each with a heading and simple clipart. The icons and headings are: 1) Creating Equity – person with a cane and another without standing on a seesaw. 2) Future Proofing – calendar and forward arrow; 3) Improving User Experience – person using a computer; 4) Enhancing Communication – two speech bubbles with language symbols; 5) Expanding Reach – group of diverse people including a wheelchair user; 6) Removing Barriers – person in a wheelchair approaching a lift; 7) Enhancing Wellbeing – person reclining in a therapy or treatment chair; 8) Reflecting Your Values – heart symbol within an atom-like design; 9) Respecting Human Rights – person pointing at another with a question mark and confusion symbols; 10) Meeting Legal Standards – balanced scales of justice; 11)  #FridayFeeling #DisabledBySociety #Accessibility #Ableism

I almost didn't post about today, which is International Day of People with Disabilities. Yes, disabled people live with disability every single day. Still, awareness days matter. They spark conversations and, ideally, actions. The difference lies in allyship: - Performative allyship: Companies post today, then go silent until next year. - Genuine allyship: Companies make progress every day. This year’s theme is “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress.” True progress means disabled people must be seen as leaders, not just participants. Too often, we’re underestimated, told “it’s a lot of work,” or only considered for roles tied directly to our disability. I know this firsthand. I held many nonprofit PR, marketing, communications, and digital roles. It's more than enough experience for a VP role. No one asked. The one time I put my name forward, I didn’t get it. Fortunately, that changed recently! I was asked if I wanted to take on an officer role with a nonprofit board. That's why I devote much of my volunteer time with this organization more than any other. Another time, I applied to a committee addressing issues that affect all residents, including people with disabilities. The two chosen were leaders of nonprofits serving disabled communities. They didn't have someone with lived experience. That’s not inclusion, and it doesn’t advance social progress. Meanwhile, I’ve run a successful business for 20 years. Not by “resting on my laurels,” but by working hard. If companies want to foster disability-inclusive societies and advance progress, here are steps to start: 1. Normalize accessibility as part of culture, not an exception. Make accommodations seamless and proactive so disabled employees don’t have to fight for them. This fosters inclusion at the systems level. 2. Create pathways into leadership, not just entry-level roles. Mentoring and coaching should explicitly prepare disabled employees for management and executive positions, not stop at “support roles.” 3. Pairing with experienced colleagues should be reciprocal. Disabled employees bring lived expertise. Encourage two-way learning so inclusion advances social progress across the organization. 4. Invest in professional development with equity in mind. Training should be accessible, funded, and scheduled during work hours. This signals that leadership growth is valued for everyone. 5. Include disabled voices in decision-making, not just consulting. Representation must extend to strategy tables, boards, and leadership committees. Progress requires lived experience shaping policy and culture. 6. Measure and report progress. Track how many disabled employees are in leadership pipelines and roles. Transparency drives accountability and societal progress. #Accessibility #MerylMots Image: White generic person figure with a flourish around its top half and International Day of People with Disabilities

May is Mental Health Awareness Month - and it matters more than ever. As a radiologist at GE HealthCare, I spend much of my time focused on physical health - interpreting images, innovating diagnostics, and helping improve outcomes for our customers through technology. But beneath every scan lies a human being with stories, struggles, hopes, and emotions that don’t show up on an MRI or CT. Mental health often goes unseen but it should never be overlooked. Working in healthcare, I’ve witnessed firsthand how burnout, stress, and emotional fatigue affect not only patients but also providers. Behind the lab coats, scrubs, and leadership titles are human beings navigating life’s ups and downs just like everyone else. I know this not just professionally, but personally. Mental health is a cause close to my heart, and it’s one we must all speak about more openly. Because there is no health without mental health. At GE HealthCare, we recognize the importance of supporting both the body and the mind. Whether it’s through employee well-being initiatives, AI-driven solutions that reduce clinician burden, or simply fostering a culture where people feel safe to say, “I’m not okay”. We are committed to driving change. This month, I encourage all of us in healthcare and beyond to do three things: Check in: On your colleagues, your loved ones, and yourself. Speak up: Share your story if you feel comfortable. Every voice helps break the stigma. Support: Advocate for workplace environments that prioritize mental well-being alongside performance and productivity. Let’s normalize mental health conversations in hospitals, boardrooms, and at the bedside. Let’s make compassion part of our daily rounds. #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #GEHealthCare #Radiology #MentalHealthMatters

International Day of Persons with Disability On December 3rd, we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disability —a global initiative by the UN to promote inclusion, accessibility, and respect for people with disabilities. With over 1 billion people worldwide living with a disability, creating an inclusive world is essential. Despite progress, barriers in education, employment, healthcare, and social participation persist. Here are some examples of how we’re fostering inclusion of Persons with Disability across HEINEKEN: • UK🇬🇧 Their Enable task force launched Neurodiversity Toolkit, and Strongbow is on a journey to be the most inclusive cider brand🍏🍺 • Spain 🇪🇸 Raised awareness through a “cognitive escape room,” invested in brewery accessibility, and partnered with an NGO. • Mexico 🇲🇽 11 work centers certified as accessible and conducted workshops, podcasts, and awareness initiatives. • Ireland 🇮🇪 Partnered with Assistive Technology to support employment in hospitality; introduced wellness rooms and digital accommodations. • Brazil 🇧🇷 Quebrando Barreiras (Breaking Barriers) affinity group, use sign language in their communications, and have a career development pilot for people with disabilities. • Egypt 🇪🇬 Participated in employment fairs and enhanced accessibility. • France 🇫🇷 Promotes disability inclusion through campaigns, ERGs , and partnerships. • Global 🌎 Hosted an accessibility workshop with Microsoft. • Head Office: Introduced NeuroHeive, an ERG focused on neurodiversity. And many more… How about you? What inclusive practices is your company driving that we should celebrate? Let´s continue inspiring a more inclusive workplace and culture where everyone can thrive! 🌍💙 #DiverseViewsAndBrews Alt text: A collage featuring: a group of people at a Strongbow event, including a person in a wheelchair; the cover of a guide on neurodiversity; the HEINEKEN logo displayed in braille; a person with a disability serving beer in a pub; a language accessibility sign in a Townhall; and a podcast interview with a person in a wheelchair.