Wellbeing of Women is a charity based in the UK, which raises money to invest in medical research and the development of specialist doctors and nurses working in the field of reproductive health. Every year the charity invests in research projects and allocates funds towards the training of doctors and midwives. The charity also disseminates information on women's reproductive health.[1]
The charity is based in London, and consists of: a team of staff and volunteers; a board of trustees headed up by Sir Victor Blank; and a Research Advisory Committee.
The charity was first established in 1964 when eminent obstetrician Professor Will Nixon was touched by the grief of a young man who had lost his wife during childbirth. Together with high profile members of the medical profession including Lord Brain, Sir John Peel, Professor Dugald Baird and Sir George Pinker,[2] they set up the Childbirth Research Centre. The charity changed its name in 1972 to "Birthright - The National Fund for Childbirth Research". In 1975 Birthright agreed to work with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In the late 1980s the charity changed its name again to Wellbeing before finally emerging as Wellbeing of Women.[3]
On 12 October 2011, the Right Reverened Vincent Nichols gave the first annual Sir George Pinker Memorial Address.[4]
In December 2011, in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics in Stratford, London, Clara Maidment shot a charity calender in aid of Wellbeing of Women. 12 British female sporting celebrities who posed in the lingerie of Nichole de Carle, wearing jewellry by Salima Hughes and Coster Diamonds.[5]
In 2007, then British Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown became patron of Wellbeing of Women, and has since regularly 'tweeted' on the charity's activity.