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Women’s Health Education Program (WHEP)

The Women’s Health Education Program (WHEP) was established by the TAP Foundation in 2009. The main aim of this education and training program is to improve the lives of women and their families by training them to develop fundamental preventative health behaviours and raise awareness  and access to preventative health services.
 Perhaps with no or only a very basic education, women joining the training programs are introduced to presentations including how our bodies function, basic hygiene, nutrition and diet, gender-based equality, how to control/manage reproductive health, pregnancy, birth and postnatel care, communication skills with their partners, children and other family members, health and safe sex, sexual and reproductive rights, how to access and benefit from social services, safe motherhood, child development, communicating with adolescents.
The Women Health Education Trainin Program is a 13-week long program, with each module designed for a 90 minute session. This highly interactive training program includes the following modules:
1.      Introduction
2.      Reproductive organs and functions
3.      Diet and hygiene
4.      Safe motherhood
5.      Family planning
6.      Preventative reproductive health
7.      Communication skills
8.      Sexuality – I
9.      Sexuality – II
10.  Rights’ issues
11.  Children and adolescents
12.  General health concerns and protection
13.  Evaluation
We organise WHEP trainings throughout Turkey and work with local authorities, institutions, women centers and civil society organizations to reach women in rural areas. Education materials are designed according to target groups needs, such as visual information posters and leaflets for those who cannot read and write.Women are also provided with a ‘Women’s Health’ training booklet to take home.
In order to meet the demand, we run Training of Trainers (ToT) WHEP twice a year to prepare new trainers in the field. Women from local centers who want to be trainers are invited for a two-week training (5+5 days) at the TAP Foundation Center in Istanbul. Between 2010  and 2013, we have organized ten ToT courses for which a total of 173 participants attended.
By the end of 2013, WHEP will have been applied in 78 centers through 137 trainers with the help of about 50 different institutions and reached some 4500 women thoughout Turkey.