With menopause - to the midwife! A project leading to change in women's health care has been launched!
Issues related to women's health have not been given enough space so far - both in doctors' offices and in social discourse. Kulczyk Foundation is researching and popularizing the topic of menopausal transformation. It will soon be introduced as an element of health education, a new subject in schools. And this is not the end of the systemic changes that may occur.
A program has just begun, thanks to which – in the long term – women will gain support during menopausal transformation in their clinic. Every Polish woman chooses a midwife as part of primary care, in addition to her family doctor. Not everyone knows, however, that midwives can accompany women in taking care of their health at every stage of life.
This is a medical group with extensive training to support women in the perimenopausal period. Midwives are mainly associated with care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, but their competences are much broader. That is why in January a free training course "Counseling during menopausal transformation" was launched . This is a pilot project organized by the Kulczyk Foundation under the patronage of the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives. The substantive supervision of the course is provided by the National Consultant in the field of gynecological and obstetric nursing.
- Support for midwives in the care of women in the perimenopausal period is great news for millions of Polish women! Until now, we have been left to our own devices with this topic. Without proper support and understanding. We are changing this - menopause will no longer be a taboo subject. A subject that is embarrassing, irrelevant, unnoticed and incomprehensible. It is a normal stage in the lives of women - our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, wives, partners - emphasizes Dominika Kulczyk , founder of the Kulczyk Foundation and adds - Midwives with their knowledge, experience and sensitivity accompany women at important moments in life. Thanks to our project, they will be ready to support them also during the menopausal transformation. We are glad that the initiative of our foundation has gained wide support. The course for midwives is another domino, on the horizon of which there is a systemic change and a real improvement in the quality of life of women in Poland.
– We assume that – with the huge support of the Ministry of Health – in the future it will be a specialist course, thanks to which society will gain a guaranteed benefit in the form of a midwife's consultation for women during menopausal transformation – adds Grażyna Iwanowicz -Palus, National Consultant in the field of gynecological and obstetric nursing. And the Minister of Health, Izabela Leszczyna, is open to this solution. Therefore, the evaluation of the project will be crucial, which will provide conclusions and solutions for the future. – We want the work of midwives in this area to be included in the basket of health benefits – sums up Sylwia Lis from the Department of Health Equality in the Ministry of Health. And if this happens, then – as Mariola Łodzińska, president of NIPiP notes – it will be beneficial for both women and midwives.
- In almost all of Europe, midwives are already dealing with women's reproductive and sexual issues. And I am very glad that Polish midwives will join this standard - emphasizes Alicja Długołęcka, a sexologist and psychotherapist, who runs one of the modules. In turn, Bożena Kulesza-Brończyk, a midwife and one of the course lecturers, adds - Participation in such a project allows for the expansion of the tasks and competences of a midwife, especially primary care. Midwives can educate women during menopause, and if this is followed by a benefit financed by the National Health Fund, it will bring tangible benefits.
Menopause is the last period. But it is preceded by a number of physical and mental processes that are simply worth preparing for when entering the next stage of life. Especially since, with the current ageing society, it is a topic that concerns everyone, because it has a real impact on GDP. According to the report "Invisible at work", every fifth person working in Poland is a woman of perimenopausal age (40-55 years old). Failure to address this issue means that many Polish women begin to function worse at work, and some give up or limit their professional activity, and these are women at the peak of their careers [ 2] .
Details of the program can be found at: menopauzabeztabu.org.pl
The training course for midwives “Counseling during menopausal transition” is a pilot program organized by the Kulczyk Foundation under the patronage of the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives and the Warsaw Chamber of Nurses and Midwives. The substantive supervision of the course is provided by the National Consultant in the field of gynecological and obstetric nursing. The course is attended by several dozen midwives from all over Poland, who, after passing knowledge tests, will be able to act as menopause educators , providing help to women in their region and teaching other specialists. The course will undergo a two-stage evaluation, which will allow for better adjustment of the substantive scope to the needs of working midwives.
The course consists of five thematic modules and takes place in the first quarter of 2025:
- Cultural and social aspects of the perimenopausal period
- Medical conditions of menopausal changes
- Urogynecological health support
- Perimenopausal sexuality
- Emotional and psychological support for women during menopausal transition
The course is the first domino. Then, each midwife, returning to her workplace, will share the information acquired and updated during the training. The trainees will conduct educational meetings in their district – separately for midwives and patients themselves. The organizers are interested not only in popularizing knowledge in the field of menopause education, but also in disseminating information about the broad competences of midwives. Only 3% of respondents know that this is a medical group that provides support during menopause transformation [ 3] . The pilot will end with an evaluation, which will allow for efforts to be made to include the course in the postgraduate education program for midwives as a specialist course, and counseling during menopause transformation in the basket of benefits within primary health care. The Kulczyk Foundation will create a database of midwives with up-to-date knowledge about menopause, thanks to which women will know who in their region to contact for support. Everything indicates that the coming months will bring us a specific, necessary and expected change in terms of improving the comfort and safety of life of millions of Polish women.
