Platform 51

health and wellbeing

Women are taking serious risks with their health and wellbeing through alcohol abuse, bad diets and poor sexual health. Girls need better education and support to help them make informed, healthy choices.

Alcohol abuse

The average weekly alcohol consumption for 11-to 15-year-olds has increased from five units in 1990 to more than eleven units in 2006. There has been an increase in drinking to get drunk.

Abuse, alcohol or drug use in the family, failure at school, peer pressure and stress are all factors that cause women to abuse alcohol. By abusing alcohol women are risking their personal safety.

Sexual health

Women in England and Wales are more likely to have poor sexual health than European women and rates of teenage pregnancies in the UKare the highest in Western Europe.

Women tell us that the sex education they get in school is too scientific, is too little, too late and doesn't deal with the realities of relationships, like pressure to have sex, what makes a healthy relationship and how to say no,

Many young women get their information about sex from friends, family and the media. As a result, many have inaccurate beliefs about safe sex.

Healthy living

Healthy eating in schools has been high on the political agenda for some time, but school doesn’t work for everyone. Girls who miss out on school miss learning about healthy eating.

Women struggling to manage on a budget find it difficult to eat healthily.

Often there is nowhere safe for women to exercise or join in sports. For women from black or ethnic minority backgrounds, exercise is only acceptable in places for women-only. These can be hard to find.

What Platform 51 does

Platform 51 offers programmes that develop women’s self-confidence and skills. As a woman’s confidence and self-esteem grows, so will her sense of worth.

We educate young women about the dangers of binge drinking and how this can affect their lives.

We offer practical sexual health support like bringing nurses into young women’s groups, condom distribution and pregnancy and chlamydia testing.

Platform 51 offers cooking and healthy eating courses for young women on a budget. We help young mums learn about what they and their children eat and how to get exercise.