VicHealth history: major events and milestones

1987

• Victorian Tobacco Act 1987 passed in Parliament.
• The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) established with funding from government-collected tobacco taxes and mandated to promote health in the State of Victoria.

 

 

 

1988

• VicHealth moves to buy out tobacco company sponsorship of sport and the arts; Quit, Heart Health and other health promotion programs replace the tobacco sponsorships.
• The Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria (now the Cancer Council Victoria) receives funding from VicHealth to run its SunSmart and Quit programs.
• Foundation SA (the South Australian health promotion foundation, later renamed Living Health) established.
• VicHealth funds first Victorian breast cancer screening program.

 

 

1989

• Tobacco billboard advertising replaced.
• Food and Nutrition Program established.
• Healthy Localities project brings local government, community agencies and residents together to identify priority health issues and implement local health promotion strategies.
• VicHealth funds significant research into Alzheimer’s disease at the Mental Health Research Institute.
• ACT Health Promotion Fund (changed to Healthpact in 1995) established.

 

 

1990

• A ban is placed on all tobacco advertising in Victorian print media.
• Victorian Arts Centre becomes completely smokefree.
• First community-based cervical screening program established.

 

 

 

 

1991

• Healthway (the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation) established under the Tobacco Control Act 1990.
• Centre for the Study of Mothers’ and Children’s Health (later renamed Centre for Mother and Child Health Research) established.
• Centre for the Study of Adolescent Health (later renamed Centre for Adolescent Health) established.
• Prevalence of smoking in Victoria from 1986 to1991 declines at the rate of 1% per year, from 31.5% to 25.6%.

 

 

1992

• Federal Government bans tobacco sponsorships and most remaining forms of advertising from 1995.
• Centre for the Study of Sexually Transmitted Diseases established; later changed to Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS).
• Publication of A Considerable Success – an evaluation of VicHealth’s first 5 years from an economic perspective, by Dr Neville Norman of the University of Melbourne.

 

 

1993

• Launch of the State Government’s Cancer and Heart Offensive, aimed at cutting the numbers of people dying prematurely from Victoria's two biggest killers.
• Of Australia’s top private companies based in Victoria, 75% now totally smokefree (an increase of 25% in one year).
• Launch of Partnerships with Healthy Industry – health promotion in the workplace.

 

 

1994

• World Health Organisation calls for other countries to adopt the VicHealth model.
• VicHealth holds its first national conference to examine the pioneering developments of working with sport and art organisations to promote health.
• VicHealth funds research arm of the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, a program which will increase capacity to intervene and prevent youth suicide.

 

 

1995

• New Strategic Plan (Healthy Victoria to the Year 2000) launched; the emphasis is on knowledge transfer.
• VicHealth launches Healthy Families of the Future, a program to improve mental health and wellbeing within families.
• Completion of tobacco sponsorship replacement program.

 

1996

• The work of VicHealth in promoting health is recognised when the World Health Organisation Medal for Excellence is presented to the Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett.
• Active for Life launched in schools to teach children about making exercise a healthy lifetime habit to prevent heart disease.
• VicHealth-sponsored sporting organisations are encouraged to promote smokefree environments with healthy food options and sun shade.
• Health Promotion Switzerland established.

 

1997

• Australian High Court invalidates state tobacco fees, which ends tobacco-fee funding for VicHealth; funding from state budget commences.
• Federal Government and Quit agencies in the states and territories develop the National Tobacco Campaign. The campaign includes graphic TV ads depicting the health effects of smoking. A national Quitline is introduced.
• Foundation SA disbanded.
• Austrian Health Promotion Foundation established.

 

1998

• Removal of sponsorship from Carlton Football Club after continuing breaches of sponsorship agreement by their chairman, John Elliott.
• Launch of VicHealth’s indigenous research centre: the Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit.

 

 

1999

• VicHealth’s Strategic Directions 1999–2002 focuses on physical activity, healthy eating, substance misuse, tobacco control and mental health and wellbeing.
• VicHealth launches Mental Health Promotion Plan for Victoria, focusing on social connection, freedom from discrimination and economic participation as major factors impacting on mental health.
• Victorian Public Health Research and Education Council (VPHREC) launched.
• International Network of Health Promotion Foundations established.

 

2000

• The VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control opens, focusing on legal, economic and social research to strengthen tobacco control initiatives.
• VicHealth begins funding the Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field to establish it in Australia and support the field’s local and international activities.
• New Arts for Health Program funding begins, with a focus on participation and access.
• Government of Victoria amends its Tobacco Act to introduce smokefree dining, bans on point-of-sale advertising, and increased penalties for retailers who sell to minors.

 

 

2001

• Sport program redevelopment announced: shift from sponsorship model to increasing participation in physical activity through the Promoting Health through Sport and Active Recreation Program.
• Introduction of smokefree dining in Victoria.
• Launch of Together We Do Better campaign promoting mental health and wellbeing.
• Food Security Program begins, aimed at giving people in disadvantaged communities better access to fresh foods.
• Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) established.

 

 

2002

• Walking School Bus Program commences in four local councils; 14 primary schools and 224 children participate.
• VicHealth joins forces with education, adolescent and welfare organisations to highlight bullying behaviour as a significant mental health issue.
• Launch of Out of School Hours Sports Program to increase physical activity of primary school aged children.
  

 

 

2003

• VicHealth launches Leading the Way: Councils creating healthier communities, a resource to better equip councils to identify and respond to the built, social, economic and environmental issues that affect health and wellbeing in communities.
• VicHealth funds five new fellowships and six new scholarships; the organisation now fully funds or supports 55 fellows and scholars.

 

2004

• Health 2004: The World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education takes place in Melbourne. It attracts over 2000 delegates in 4 days.
• The Health Costs of Violence shows the extent of intimate partner violence and its enormous impact on women’s mental health and wellbeing.
• Food Security Demonstration Projects from City of Yarra and City of Maribyrnong win Victorian Public Health Awards for Excellence and Innovation.

 

2005

• Smoking rates drop below 17% of Victoria’s adult population (from 31.5% in 1986).
• Quit celebrates its 20th anniversary as an anti-smoking campaign.
• More than 2000 Victorian primary school children from 192 schools walk to and from school as part of VicHealth’s Walking School Bus Program.