Critical data on lesbian, bisexual and queer women’s health – two SWASH reports

2018 was a big year for SWASH. The largest number of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women and non-binary people ever completed our health survey across 24 venues and events during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras season. This was the 16th iteration – 16th! I have complete confidence in our claim that SWASH is the longest running and most comprehensive periodic survey of this kind in the world! We also ran our first regional site in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast region of NSW.

So, on International Women’s Day 2019 we launched the main report, with findings from 1272 respondents on a whole range of health issues including sexual health, preventive health practices, mental health and illicit drug use. Download the full report of the 2018 SWASH survey here, or check out our overview video.

Exactly a year after we started data collection at  the Lismore Women’s Festival, we returned to launch our regional report. Based on surveys from 245 respondents living in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast of NSW, this is a comprehensive snapshot of critical health indicators; download the full regional report here. We ran a roundtable for local health providers to provide key findings and facilitate conversations about responding to priority health issues. We ran a lively community forum at the Country Women’s Association Tea Rooms (where the 2018 survey was launched during our sexual health workshop).

There is a lot of work ahead of us now to get these findings out into the world so they can activate and shape actions to improve the health of lesbian, bisexual and queer women and non-binary people’s health.