The health of women is currently flagged as one of the burdens of disease globally. Poverty, gender inequity, poor socio-economic status, sexual and gender-based violence (e.g. female genital mutilation), ageing populations, and increased survival rates raise a major concern regarding the morbidity of women. Pelvic health disorders affect people across all populations worldwide, regardless of race, age, socio-economic status, or gender. Despite its high prevalence, most entry-level physiotherapy programmes offer limited training in the screening and management of pelvic health conditions, while postgraduate training programmes are diverse in content delivery, focusing on the higher socio-economic and non-marginalised population groups. Similarly, a lack of research in marginalized populations and in low-mid income countries is still a concern. As a result, access to appropriate care remains inadequate, particularly for vulnerable and underserved groups.

The first speaker will cover the topic of barriers and facilitators to access physiotherapy in different socio-economic and cultural contexts, as well as the challenges experienced by marginalized populations to access physiotherapy services. This topic will be supported by a short recording on the lived experience of a patient.

The second speaker will discuss the current scope and curricula of pelvic and women’s health physiotherapy training programmes globally, currently being established by a global survey. It will focus on the alignment of educational programmes and research with cultural and socio-economic contexts and the suitability of translating it into practice in different population groups and settings.

The final speaker and topic will be solution-driven, exploring possibilities of adapting educational programmes, research focus and methodology, strategies for advocacy and implementation, and patient management approaches to translate culturally and population-specific evidence into practice.

The question and discussion session will continue exploring ideas and input from the audience, which will be integrated into the proposal by the International Organisation of Physiotherapists in Pelvic and Women’s Health education and training guidelines.

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