PARTNERSHIPS are key when it comes to tackling public health issues, and that’s where Swan Hill will look as it aims to fight disease and injury.
The most recent four-year health and wellbeing plan was released by the state government earlier this month with a look towards 2027 and how public health would evolve in that time.
A list of 10 health and wellbeing priorities was detailed in the plan, focusing on fighting some of the most consistent challenges like tobacco use and dietary risks.
Following the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of co-ordinated action to promote health and wellbeing has become a key focus for the state.
Swan Hill District Health head of health promotion Gayle Taylor said the 10 priorities were all things that “overlap and connect to one another”.
“We look at the priorities from a health-promotion-funded point of view and the department suggests areas that we should concentrate on,” Ms Taylor said.
“The previous state plan was quite similar so these 10 priorities aren’t new.
“It’s important for us to able to keep our focus on tackling some of those priorities first, but we just aren’t able to focus on promoting them all at the one time.
“We have finite funds but we are lucky to have great partnerships across Swan Hill in regard to early-years and health promotion.
“We work closely with the welfare agencies, the kindergartens and playgroups and maternal child health, which really allows us to get the best value for what we do.”
In the third year of SHDH’s Health Promotion Action Plan, the team understands the impact equity and community engagement have in a community’s health.
Ms Taylor said it was important to start the messaging surrounding a healthy lifestyle early.
“We made the decision to predominantly focus on early years — we say the first 1000 days but it’s pretty much up to the age of five.
“It’s key that we also look out for the vulnerable communities, which there are a few of in the region.
“We’re still looking at community-wide interventions but what we do really reaches those two cohorts of the community.
“That early-years intervention firstly helps with education and learning.
“If you have those opportunities to gain employment and be educated it really helps with everything else in regard to the determinants of health.”
Ms Taylor said it often took time to see the difference that health promotion could make to the community.
“It can be difficult to quantify the difference that this is really making,” she said.
“We’ve been working on breastfeeding messaging for a few years now and have a fantastic breastfeeding support service, but when you look at the data it might not look like it’s changed much.
“But the parameters on how breastfeeding rates are measured have actually changed so you can’t compare easily.
“We see a lot of variables like that.”
More information about the Victorian public health and wellbeing plan is at www.health.vic.gov.au/victorian-public-health-and-wellbeing-plan
