Victoria to deliver better healthcare for women

The Victorian Government has strengthened the Indigenous health workforce with further training and support to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls can access culturally safe women’s health care, closer to home.

Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas announced at the Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Partnership Forum in Ballarat, the State Government is to provide $300,000 to the Victorian Aboriginal Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) to deliver a dedicated Aboriginal women’s health workforce initiative.

“We know that when we listen to Aboriginal Victorians, we get the best health outcomes,” Ms Thomas said.

Better response to health needs

“These grants will up-skill 50 clinicians right around Victoria – equipping them with the tools, confidence and skills they need to provide the very best care to First Nations women.”

The program will offer one-off grants of up to $5,000 for health clinicians employed by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to up-skill in areas of women’s health. The grants will help clinicians and ACCHOs to better respond to the health needs of Aboriginal women and girls and to provide more effective care.

The grants can be used flexibly and will support up to 50 clinicians across the ACCHO sector to build their knowledge and skills in women’s health while also enhancing organisational capacity.

This initiative is being delivered part of the Labor Government’s landmark $153 million women’s health package.

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Chief Executive Dr Jill Gallagher said Aboriginal women know what their communities need.

Women’s health package

“These grants will help to build and strengthen the Aboriginal women’s health workforce embedding cultural safety and better care,” she said.

“Self-determination in Aboriginal women’s health care is the only way we can ensure we keep our mothers, aunties, sisters and daughters safe, healthy and thriving for generations to come.”

The women’s health package is supporting the delivery of 20 new women’s health clinics, new mobile and virtual women’s health clinics, a dedicated Aboriginal women’s health clinic and the expansion of the women’s sexual and reproductive health hub network.

Creating a culturally safe health care environment which acknowledges, understands and respects the strength and diversity of Aboriginal peoples, communities and cultures is central to Victoria’s ongoing journey to remove unnecessary barriers to the optimal health and wellbeing of all Aboriginal people in Victoria.

For more information visit the Womens Health and Wellbeing Program page.