HealthWest Partnership brings together partners across Melbourne’s west under the Prevention Taskforce. Made up of local governments, community health, women’s health and others, the purpose of the Taskforce is to strengthen collaborative, cross sector efforts across Melbourne’s west to promote the health and wellbeing of communities and to prevent ill health before it occurs.
The role of the Taskforce is in:
- Raising the profile of primary prevention in the region
- Building capacity at a systems level; and
- Supporting alignment of resources and primary prevention effort.
Here is some recent work that the Taskforce has done:
Climate change and health forum
HealthWest partnered with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in September to deliver the forum Climate Change and Health in Melbourne’s West. The forum aimed to:
- Develop a shared understanding of the system that climate change and health operates in from the perspectives of key stakeholders.
- Identify strategies that will enable and support stakeholders to take tangible steps on climate action at a systems level.
- Identify opportunities for aligned action and change measurement that can be scaled up and designed to have strategic medium to long term impacts.
The day was full of inspiration on ways that organisations and actors from across the system can partner and take further action on climate change with communities in the west.
Access the infographic and recordings of the day
- Infographic summarising participant feedback
- Video: Climate change and health: Panel interview part 1
- Video: Climate change and health: Panel interview part 2, plus breakout presentation introductions
DFFH will be continuing to take this work forward, so contact Louise Atherton louise.atherton@dffh.vic.gov.au for more info.
Advocacy on behalf of the Prevention Taskforce
As part of our advocacy work, The Western Region Primary Prevention Taskforce recently worked together to identify what we need to protect and strengthen the prevention system in the west. As many of our partners have recently gone through a process of identifying health needs in order to build four year plans, we brought together the wealth of knowledge that has been gained to tell a story of what this looks like at a regional level. We also identified the foundations for an effective primary prevention system, and looked at how we have worked towards an integrated system in Melbourne’s west.
Read the full paper: Taking stock of primary prevention in Melbourne’s west
Read the highlights in our blog
Evaluation Capacity
In 2019 and 2020, HealthWest and our partners assessed the region’s capacity to apply monitoring, evaluation and learning in primary prevention work, using this tool:
Download the Evaluation Capacity Health Check
Read more about what we are doing in building evaluation capacity here.
Social inclusion
In 2019, the Prevention Taskforce developed social inclusion resources to support our partners in doing this important work.
The importance of social inclusion – Animation
An animation to help with social inclusion messaging. What is it? Why is it important? How does it impact health?
Use this animation when you’re working with different stakeholders, community members or even within your own organisation.
Meaningful Engagement for Social Inclusion: A Practice Guide
Communities having a say and being able to influence decisions that affect them is key to social inclusion.
HealthWest, along with our Prevention Partners, developed the Meaningful Engagement for Social Inclusion: A Practice Guide to help organisations create or improve their social inclusion work.
Download the Meaningful Engagement Practice Guide
The Practice Guide is a collection of resources and techniques from various sectors and priority areas. It includes information on how to:
- advocate within your organisation,
- inform decision-makers, and
- engage with your target audience meaningfully.
Contact
Anna Vu, Prevention Manager
anna.vu@healthwest.org.au; (03) 9248 9659
