Are Healthier Women the Key to Improving Health Across London?

Newswise — London is to host a major conference, looking at women's influence on the health of their families and communities and the role this has to play in developing strategies for improving the overall health and well-being of cities.

HEALTHY CITIES: HEALTHY WOMEN takes place on September 17th, bringing together a range of experts, including Dame Mary Archer, Dame Ruth Carnall, former Chief Executive of NHS London and newly named advisor to the Mayor of London on health matters, and Dr. Helen Walters, Head of Health at the Greater London Authority.

Other speakers include Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; Dr. Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet; Christine Hancock, Executive Director of C3 Collaborating for Health; Professor Liz Kelly, CBE, Chair of End Violence Against Women; Jain Lemom, from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime; Jayson Otke of Philips Healthcare UK; and Nick Kinsella of the United Nations Global Trust Fund for Human Trafficking.

The conference, which has the backing of the Mayor of London, is focusing on public health, as well as urban planning initiatives designed to promote community-based health solutions, prevent violence against women, increase public safety, and better support healthy lifestyles.

Deputy Mayor of London Victoria Borwick says: “This timely conference will cast a spotlight on the different factors affecting women's health at a personal level but also in the wider community. The Mayor wants London to be a city in which all women are equipped to make decisions about their own health, both within the family and in the public realm.'

HEALTHY CITIES: HEALTHY WOMEN London, co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, and The Lancet, is one of an ongoing series of international events exploring the dynamic intersection between the health of women, life in an urban environment and the benefit of empowering women to influence overall health. The conference will be held at the Millennium London Mayfair Hotel and has already been an opinion changer in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

Registration is £90 per person. The conference will be from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm on 17 September 2013.

Additional information is available at www.nursing.upenn.edu/healthywomen

Interested participants may register at http://healthyciteshealthywomenlondon.eventbrite.com.

Complimentary tickets for media are available.

Media contact: Wylie Thomas at +1.215.898.5089 or [email protected]