E57 - Vulva Cancer Survivor and Activist - The Hidden World of Women

It’s women’s health week! Given this podcast is brought to you by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services (https://whws.org.au ) we couldn’t let it pass without a podcast episode related. This year’s theme is Grow Your Knowledge. As always there is a different prompt for each day and Monday is Check Me Out – women’s health checks including cervical screening self-collection, heart health and vulval self-checks. As we are still trying to focus on our theme of different occupations Emma was a little bit creative and spoke with Kath Mazella OAM who is a multi-award recipient gynaecological health advocate. The episode covers Kath’s career and the personal story that led her here and it’s done in the usual Hidden World of Women meandering way. Kath is a survivor of vulva cancer and uses her experience to motivate her activism for women’s health. In today’s episode Kath speaks about her experience recovering for cancer, the search for community, her experiences entering the women’s health field including some of the barriers and the progress that has been made since she started working. Kath said that a big motivator for her to start working was hearing the stories of other women who had suffered like she had. Recently the Australian government put out a call asking people to share their stories. This call aims to provide information that would guide positive change. If you have a story you’d like to share please click the link below. https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-ged-kearney-mp/media/call-for-women-to-share-their-stories Kath also speaks about wearing vulva socks as an easy way to support gynaecological research. Today the staff at King Edwards memorial hospital are wearing them to help destigmatise and start conversations about vulval health. https://agcf.org.au On the 10th of September at Kings Park Kulbardi Pavillon, there is a picnic being hosted to help raise awareness for gynaecological and vulva health. Bring your picnic gear and celebrate a great cause.

If you want more information on Women’s Health Week you can check out the Jean Hailes site https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/womens-health-week with information about each day’s prompt. If you want to get in touch with Kath you can find her website here https://www.kathmazzella.com/ 

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