Promoting good health for all Victorians

Our sector is passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of all women and gender-diverse people in Victoria. Not all women and gender-diverse people experience the same health issues in the same ways. What’s more, our health system needs continual improvement so that it meets the needs of all Victorians, no matter who you are or where you live.  

As part of our health promotion work, the women’s health sector:

• delivers initiatives that support more women and gender-diverse people to receive the information needed to make informed choices about their health and live healthy, safe and equal lives.

• gathers information and data to help improve the health system and government laws and policies so that they better support all Victorians.

We know that centring the voices of those with lived experience makes our health promotion work more likely to succeed. ‘Lived experience’ recognises that people are the experts in their own lives – they know what issues are most important to them, and what solutions could make a real difference. We connect and collaborate with a range of  communities and specialist workers and organisations so that our work reaches and empowers all communities and population groups across Victoria.

What we did in 2022-2023

We employed more staff with lived experience to lead the co-design and delivery of tailored, culturally appropriate, community-focused health promotion activities in every region across the state.

We collaborated with specialist workers, organisations and services to:

• undertake consultation and produce more intersectional research and data

• co-design and deliver tailored projects, training, campaigns and resources

• undertake joint advocacy to improve laws, policies and programs.

We engaged specialist services and consultants to help our organisations make our systems, policies and practices more inclusive, and to support our staff to improve their inclusive and intersectional practice.

We co-delivered capacity-building activities for workers and health services to increase access and improve service provision for more women and gender-diverse people.

We supported others to increase their ability to address compounding forms of disadvantage and discrimination, including supporting public sector organisations to bring an intersectional lens to implementing the requirements of the Gender Equality Act.

The impact of our work

There were more opportunities to amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse people, including those who have been historically marginalised or left out of health conversations.

We have more evidence and data to guide work in Victoria, capturing the different health needs of women and gender-diverse people at a local, regional and statewide level, as well as the solutions and responses needed.  

We have helped government agencies understand how they can adapt and evolve their services, policies and programs so that they improve wellbeing and improve outcomes for all Victorians. 

Our women’s health sector organisations have more inclusive and intersectional practices, policies and systems

We have increased health literacy for more women and gender-diverse people across the state, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, women with disabilities, LGBTIQA+ people, young people and older women

There is increased access to health services and improved service provision, leading to better health outcomes for more women and gender-diverse people in Victoria.

We have strengthened our relationships and partnerships with specialist workers, organisations and services to continue our joint work moving forward.