Programs and projects
VicHealth’s health inequalities work addresses a range of determinants and risk factors.
Through a number of different programs, VicHealth aims to reduce health inequalities in Victoria.
Housing program
Adequate housing helps to support physical and mental health. When housing is inadequate or precarious, it may be overcrowded, in poor or unsafe condition, poorly located, unaffordable, or have insecure tenure. These conditions can impact people’s identity, stability, safety, social support, sense of control over their lives, physical environments and living practices, which in turn affect health.
Lakewood community-managed cooperative
The Lakewood community-managed cooperative aims to create a sustainable, community-focused housing cooperative. Located in Ringwood, the development consists of 80 apartments of varying sizes. The tenants include a mix of people on low incomes, people with mental illness and other disabilities, refugees, Indigenous people, the elderly and unemployed people. The residents are actively engaged in the creation of the space that is their home.
VicHealth is supporting Eastern Access Community Health (EACH) to help residents develop leadership, so they can run the cooperative themselves and make decisions on the day-to-day running of the issues in the property.
The housing cooperative offers secure tenure to residents and also aims to ensure residents are supported by local service providers. EACH is also providing support for residents to develop the skills and capacity to engage with, and contribute positively to, their local community.
VicHealth has engaged the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) to oversee the evaluation of the Lakewood project, and the dissemination of learnings to Victorian housing and health policy makers.
Disability program
VicHealth recognises that people with disabilities experience a greater burden of ill health than other Victorians. Much of this health inequality is not due to physical or intellectual limitations, but to attitudes, practices and structures in society that prevent fair and equal participation. VicHealth has commissioned a project to scope the issue of disability and health inequalities. This work will include the development of a framework for understanding and a resource to support health promotion action to address health inequalities, based on the best available evidence.
New Arrival Sport Program
Football Federation Victoria (FFV)
The FFV New Arrival Sport Program aims to reduce barriers to sports participation for new arrival communities who want to play, coach or referee soccer or get involved in club administration. The program provides resources such as subsidies for players’ registration, coaching and referee courses, and committee mentoring. The program also focuses on creating welcoming and inclusive club environments for diverse communities.
Participating in sport has numerous benefits for new arrival communities, including increased experiences of social connection, physical activity and reduced discrimination. The benefits of valuing diversity flow on to the wider community.
Early Years Education Program (EYEP)
Children's Protection Society (CPS)
The Early Years Education Program (EYEP) focuses on the developmental and learning needs of children under three years of age who have experienced abuse and neglect or who are at significant risk. It targets entrenched intergenerational cycles of abuse and neglect which affect both children and adults.
Research indicates that investment in early childhood care and provides significant benefits to both the children and to the community. This program aims to measure these benefits and further contribute to the evidence base.
The program delivers services directly to the children, while partnering with their families. With funding received from the Commonwealth Government, Myer Foundation and Potter Foundation, CPS is able to provide childcare places through the EYEP.
The expected benefits to children include sustained participation in childhood care and education; higher levels of socio-emotional, cognitive and language development; more secure attachment relationships with their primary care-givers, including early childhood educators; improved physical and mental health; and greater levels of school readiness. It is expected that parents and other primary care-givers will demonstrate more attuned care-giving.