Implications for WHISE and Our Work

Reviewing the evidence across health promotion, primary prevention and gender, WHISE believe the following areas of work will guide our practice in the next 12 to 24 months.  These are:

  • Continue our focus on best practice primary prevention and health promotion.
  • Practice health promotion and primary prevention based on the social determinants of health putting gender equality at the heart of what we do.
  • Implement programs and services based on evidence (this includes evidence produced internally and externally).
  • Contribute to and build the evidence base on gender equality, primary prevention, health promotion, and women’s health and wellbeing.
  • Take an intersectional lens (including gender) to our work.
  • Collaborate and work in partnerships to build capacity of community and society in the Southern Metro Region of Melbourne.
  • Co-design and collaborate with partners and stakeholders to produce targeted resources and materials.
  • Include policy advocacy in our strategic planning to ensure we are contributing to systems change.

Overall, the emerging themes tell us that our primary prevention and health promotion capabilities will need to be strengthened and broadened to adapt and respond to a range of emerging new issues for women and health.

  • Encourage and advocate for a systems approach to building good mental health; advocate for an intersectional gender-sensitive approach to all areas of mental health policy, health promotion and service provision. Seek to provide services that promote mental health and wellbeing of women in the Southern Metro Region of Melbourne.
  • Continue to partner and support educational institutions to take a gender lens to health and wellbeing, particularly around respectful relationships, preventing violence against women, mental health and wellbeing, and sexual and reproductive health.
  • Strengthen organisations’ capacity to challenge gender stereotypes and address gender inequalities after natural disaster, particularly as it relates to the increase prevalence/risk of family violence.
  • Work with communities building on evidence as well as ‘where people are at’, using partnership and network structures to build resilience and reduce risks of vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.
  • Provide service and support to partners in our region on appropriate and evidence-based health promotion messaging on gender equality and women’s health.
  • Build our own capacity and capability to deliver primary prevention services and support for communities impacted by climate change, disaster, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Adopt and develop a social inclusion practice in our work to take a system-wide approach to address the health and wellbeing needs of older women in our community.
  • Participate in macro and micro advocacy efforts to ensure that health promotion is incorporating advocacy. This is crucial for addressing systemic issues, advocating for policy changes, addressing root causes of health inequities, allocating resources effectively, empowering communities, and promoting health equity. By combining health promotion with advocacy, we can work towards creating environments that support and sustain health for all individuals and communities.