VicHealth’s work and achievements for the financial year 2013–14 is the first full year of the Action Agenda for Health Promotion – our vision and action plan for the next 3 years and beyond to 2023.

With the complexities of chronic disease growing and the pressure for sustainable health solutions a national priority, VicHealth’s unique role in health promotion and illness prevention has never been more important.

Removing the barriers to better health and reducing chronic illness is a massive task. We look forward to continuing our efforts to meet the challenge and make a difference to the health and wellbeing of all Victorians.

Download:
The 2013-14 Year in Review (5.2MB)
Chairs report
CEO's report and highlights of the year

 

Highlights

 

Promoting healthy eating

• Projecting future trends for overweight and obesity
• Strengthening the case for state action on salt reduction
• A social marketing initiative to influence a switch to water from sugary drinks
• Improving access to healthy food using bright ideas and digital technology  
• Connecting families, farms and food grown close to home
• Building knowledge about the use of land in Victoria
• Modelling policy interventions to protect Australia’s food security
• Supporting healthy eating policies for Aboriginal organisations

Encouraging regular physical activity

• Month-long ‘Walk to School’ campaign
• Getting Melbourne’s city workers moving more
• Survey of 2000+ parents to understand their fears about letting children play and travel independently
• Inspiring more movement in children’s daily lives
• TeamUp 20 Day Challenge with the AFL Players’ Association
• Hundreds of small grants to sport and recreation clubs
• Supporting sports clubs to be healthier and more welcoming
• Getting physical through local arts initiatives
• 12-hour dance session at Melbourne’s White Night
• For You dance floor at the NGV’s Melbourne Now exhibition

Preventing tobacco use

• Extension of smoking bans in Victoria to train and tram platforms, public playgrounds, swimming pools and under-age sporting events
• Longstanding partnership with the Quit program to prevent uptake and support people to quit
• Declining cigarette sales following the introduction of plain packaging
• Research into new trends and evidence to help those who find it hardest to quit

Preventing harm from alcohol

• Exploring the role of alcohol in Victorians’ lives
• Online campaign to encourage young people to talk about Victoria’s alcohol culture and challenge the social acceptability of getting drunk
• Research into the impact of alcohol advertising during sports broadcasts
• Survey of Australian cider drinkers
• Joining forces with Hello Sunday Morning to encourage Victorians to press pause on their drinking
• New research into ‘preloading’
• Putting Victoria’s 19,000 liquor licences on the map

Improving mental wellbeing

• Groundbreaking partnership to prevent violence against women
• Surveying community attitudes to violence against women so we are better placed to prevent it  
• Empowering the football (soccer) community to respond to racism
• Reshaping the thinking behind Indigenous employment participation
• Understanding how children learn about cultural diversity
• Identifying best practice approaches for addressing stress, gender inequality, alcohol-related harm, race-based discrimination and prolonged sitting at work
• Thought-provoking suite of arts projects designed to celebrate cultural diversity
• Supporting the Victorian Indigenous Performing Arts Awards

Supporting our strategic priorities

• Inaugural Leading Thinkers initiative to generate fresh ideas and inspire new solutions to contemporary health issues
• Action-oriented Fair Foundations framework for health equity, providing clarity about what we can do in each of our priority areas to improve health equity and close the gap in health
• VicHealth strives to be an international leader in the production and dissemination of cutting-edge health promotion research.
• VicHealth named as a new World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Leadership in Health Promotion, reflecting Victoria’s world-leading status as a source of expert advice and best practice in health promotion

To request a print copy or provide feedback please email us at [email protected]ov.au.