Community Health Champions
Community Champions are local residents who help share trusted information, raise awareness, and connect people to support and services across Newham.
Whether you're passionate about health, wellbeing, autism awareness, screening programmes or helping people access support, there's a Champions programme for you.
Join Newham Community Health Champions Network
Our Story
Newham's Community Champions programme was born from the success of the Covid-19 Health Champions initiative, which mobilised more than 500 residents to support their communities during the pandemic. By sharing trusted information and connecting people to support, Champions showed how local action can make a real difference to health and wellbeing.
Today, that legacy continues through a growing network of Champions supporting a range of priorities, including general health and wellbeing, cancer screening, autism awareness, mental wellbeing, and cost of living support. Together, they help ensure residents receive trusted information and support in ways that are relevant, accessible and community-led.
As a champion you
- Make a positive difference in your community
- Learn about health and wellbeing topics that matters to you and your community
- Receive training and resources
- Build confidence and new skills
- Connect with like-minded Newham residents
- Influence the policy and practice locally by sharing back to us what you heard from your family, friends, work colleagues and wider community about health and wellbeing services in Newham
- Get involved as much you want and in a way that works for you
Meet Our Champion Katie
Katie became a Community Health Champion at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic because she wanted to help her community access accurate health information during a time of uncertainty.
Working closely with Newham's Public Health team, Katie played an important role in sharing reliable information, listening to residents' concerns, and helping people make informed decisions about their health. Through activities such as her weekly Green Couch event, information sessions and community outreach, she has continued to support local people beyond the pandemic.
For Katie, one of the greatest strengths of the Community Health Champions programme is the trust built between Champions, residents and professionals. She is particularly proud that Newham's approach became recognised nationally, with other areas learning from the model developed locally.
"Knowing that I have helped someone make an informed decision about their health or provided reassurance in a time of uncertainty is deeply fulfilling."
Katie also highlights the importance of ensuring that Deaf, Disabled and seldom-heard communities are fully included in health communications, a lesson that continues to shape community engagement today.
Community Health Champion since 2020.
Community Health Champions Network
The Community Champions Network is a trusted community engagement approach that helps important health and wellbeing information reach residents through existing local networks. Information is shared through a range of formats, including emails, WhatsApp updates, training sessions creating opportunities for two-way conversations between communities and Public Health.
Breast Screening Champions
The programme builds on the success of our first cohort of Screening Champions. Participants will receive training, resources and ongoing support from NHS colleagues, as well as opportunities to learn from and share experiences with fellow Champions. Over a six-month period, Champions will be asked to have 4 to 6 informal conversations within their communities to help raise awareness of breast screening and encourage informed discussions about breast health.
Bowel and Prostate Health champions
A new champion programme developed in response to feedback and interest from local communities for more awareness and conversations about bowel and prostate health. Champions will receive training, resources and ongoing support, as well as opportunities to learn from their peers and health professionals. Over a six-month period, Champions will be asked to have 4 to 6 informal conversations within their communities to help raise awareness, reduce stigma and encourage informed discussions about cancer prevention and early diagnosis.
Cost of Living Champions
If you’d like to play a key part in helping your family, friends, colleagues and community know where support is available, please do sign up. You’ll get regular updates on cost of living support, helping to get information out to support people when they need and want it.
Autism Champions
Do you want to help us build an autism friendly community? We want to build a community of autism champions in Newham, to spread the word and get Newham talking Autism. Would you like to get involved in helping us in your spare time and when you are out and about in the community? This may involve sharing flyers or posters at your local store, letting friends, family, neighbours or local people know about events happening in your area.
Celebrating our first cohort of Breast Screening Champions
We are proud to have recruited 18 local Breast Screening Champions who are helping to raise awareness of breast screening across Newham. Our champions share important information in ways that work best for their communities, including coffee mornings, conversations with neighbours and family members, community events, faith settings, and formal presentations.
Our champions had over 100 conversations over the first few months - what a wonderful achievement.
2025 Highlights
Six Essential Seminars
As part of the Community Health Champions programme, Newham Public Health worked in partnership with the Race Equality Forum to deliver a series of six online health seminars exploring the links between health and race.
The seminars covered key topics affecting our communities, including mental health, eating for health, moving for health, women’s cancer awareness, men’s cancer awareness, and heart health. Each session featured expert speakers who shared accessible information, highlighted inequalities, and signposted to local support and services.
The live seminar series has now concluded, but recordings and resources from all sessions are available to access online. These materials can be shared and revisited to support learning, conversation, and action within families and communities.
Covid-19 Health and Wellbeing Champions
The Newham Covid-19 Health Champions programme was running May 2020 - end of 2021 with over 500 residents participating. Through grassroots efforts and collaborative engagement, Covid-19 Health Champions have played a pivotal role in disseminating vital health information, promoting vaccine uptake, and supporting vulnerable residents.
The evaluation report highlights their significant contributions in fostering resilience and unity within the community amidst the ongoing crisis, underscoring the importance of local empowerment in public health initiatives