ENSURE: Enhancing Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Western Sydney

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a human right and a fundamental contributor to health and wellbeing. Utilisation of SRH services is associated with positive mental health outcomes, greater quality of life and sexual wellbeing among women. Sexual and reproductive health have been identified as two of the top priorities for women’s health in Australia by both the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030 and the National Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network (AHRA WHN). However, it is recognised that services are not accessed equally among different groups of women. In Western Sydney (WS), this is due to individual and systemic barriers and is particularly the case for marginalised women including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), homeless, gender or sexuality diverse (GSD) women and women with disability. This means women in WS are at risk of experiencing poorer SRH outcomes. Western Sydney University is well positioned to respond to the issues around inequity in SRH in WS. Two major themes and priority areas threading throughout women’s SRH research at Western are 1) the marginalisation of women, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, leading to a lack of health literacy across SRH issues, and 2) the need for further research that impacts on SRH policy and practice. Using a range of approaches, our research at Western focuses on a spectrum of SRH areas, including menstruation, menopause and menstrual disorders; pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood experience; chronic illness and SRH; gendered violence; and SRH of marginalised women. With a focus on intersectionality, co-design and consumer participation, our research examines women’s SRH across the lifespan, with direct translational outcomes to address issues of SRH inequity and inequality. This includes development and evaluation of programs of health promotion and prevention, interventions, services and policies that systematically respond to the needs of women WS and beyond. As this paper outlines, utilising a transdisciplinary approach to address inequity in SRH, our aim is to address two major themes that crosscut all aspects of women’s SRH health: 1. Increasing access to services by reducing stigma and marginalisation, promoting culturally sensitive care and increasing women’s SRH literacy; and 2. A sustained program of knowledge translation, using a range of methods, to ensure that our existing findings and ongoing research have impact and direct outcomes in terms of influencing policy and practice, encouraging women’s participation, and supporting women’s health.