The UK Preconception Partnership (UK PP) Co-produced Research Priorities 2024
Our vision is a society in which preparing for pregnancy and parenthood is a routine part of life, without discrimination, that provides children with the best start to life and reduces health disparities now and in the future.
Our action plan is to secure funding and generate evidence leading to the desired health care, social and environmental conditions that support health and wellbeing before pregnancy and parenthood.
To support this action plan, the UKPP co-developed a set of preconception health research priorities with members of the public (in no particular order):
Health disparities in relation to preconception health |
Tailored preconception care for particular groups, for example considering age, culture, family and weight |
How to improve preconception health (including mental and physical health and lifestyle/behaviours) and evaluate interventions |
Understanding more about what matters most in preparing for pregnancy and parenthood |
Where and how to deliver preconception care |
Where to find the right information, including where and how to educate people throughout their life course to raise awareness of preconception health |
The UKPP will engage with policymakers and funders to raise the profile and demonstrate the importance of preparation for pregnancy and parenthood, and secure funding to:
- Engage effectively with communities and wider stakeholders, through co-production and public involvement, in dialogue about, and planning for, culturally-appropriate ways to support preconception health and wellbeing, recognising that this involves addressing wider determinants of health such as education, income and housing;
- Work with others to identify best mechanisms for alleviating poverty and disadvantage for the whole population, reducing disparities, addressing structural racism, gender inequity and environmental hazards;
- Identify evidence-based personalised interventions and actions empowering people to prepare for pregnancy and parenthood;
- Bring innovations in methods of delivering individual support to those contemplating pregnancy through, for example, primary care settings; and
- Develop and evaluate the impact of teaching about the significance of young people’s health and wellbeing in both primary and secondary education in the UK.
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