HEALTH IS MORE THAN TREATMENT
Health is shaped not only by medicine, but also by dignity, access, education and whether patients are truly heard. Meet three Women Changing the World Awards winners who are opening new conversations around women’s health, migraine and personal responsibility for well-being.
Women Changing The World: Meet The Women Expanding The Conversation About Health
Some of the most important changes in healthcare begin before a new treatment is developed. They begin when an overlooked experience is finally taken seriously, when patients gain a stronger voice, or when people are given better tools to understand and care for their own health.
The Women Changing the World Awards Czech & Slovak Edition recognise women whose work creates meaningful impact across healthcare, prevention, well-being and patient advocacy. This week, we introduce the three 2025 award recipients in the Health category – women whose approaches are very different, but who share one important principle: health becomes stronger when people are informed, respected and involved.
Lilia Khousnoutdinova
Women’s health, respectful care and systemic change | 1st place
Lilia Khousnoutdinova is a social scientist, writer, lecturer and philanthropist whose work has long focused on women’s health, reproductive rights and respectful maternity care. With an academic background that includes Oxford and the London School of Economics, she connects research, advocacy and practical projects. Through the Propolis 33 Foundation, she has supported access to midwifery services, including care for women in difficult social situations, while also working with professionals, parents and institutions. Her work shows that improving healthcare is not only about clinical outcomes; it is also about dignity, informed choice and creating systems that listen more closely to women’s real experiences.
Rýza Blažejovská
Patient advocacy and changing the perception of migraine | 2nd place
Rýza Blažejovská founded and leads Migréna-help after her own experience with chronic migraine revealed how easily an invisible illness can be misunderstood or minimised. What began as a personal experience developed into a patient organisation providing information, support and advocacy for people living with migraine. Through public campaigns, patient meetings and dialogue about access to treatment, Migréna-help has helped move migraine from the margins of public discussion into a more serious healthcare conversation. Rýza’s work is an example of how patient experience, when transformed into organised advocacy, can influence awareness, reduce stigma and help people feel less alone in navigating chronic illness.
Petra Uríková
Health education and practical self-care | 3rd place
Petra Uríková is a trained physician, therapist and educator who created the online platform Uzdrav sám sebe. Her work focuses on health education and on helping people become more attentive to their own bodies, habits and everyday choices. She teaches through online and live courses and draws on her medical education as well as her training and practice in traditional Chinese medicine and other complementary approaches. Rather than positioning health as something that happens only in a consulting room, her work emphasises learning, prevention and personal participation. Her contribution to the category reflects another dimension of changing health culture: making health knowledge more accessible and encouraging people to take an active role in their well-being.
These three women work in very different parts of the health landscape – from systemic reform and women’s reproductive health, through patient advocacy, to public education. Together, their stories show that changing health does not always begin with a breakthrough technology. Sometimes it begins by asking whose experience is missing, whose voice needs to be heard and what people need in order to participate more fully in their own care.
Discover more Women Changing the World Awards winners → https://thewomenchangingtheworld.cz