Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth)

We know that alcohol advertising on social media targets those who are at greatest risk of abusing alcohol.     And now, for the first time, we can start to understand the scale of that harm.   We’ve been working with Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), The University of Queensland, and Turning Point Addiction Treatment, Research and Education to connect data showing the number of alcohol ads on social media and the number of alcohol-related ambulance call outs.   The new report, Five weeks to watch: what we can learn from alcohol harms and digital advertising data, clearly shows that social media alcohol advertising and ambulance call outs for alcohol-related harms peak across the same five weeks every year.   Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/gS9rwWes 

Since the beginning, we’ve put our money where our mouth is – providing grants and funding needed to help Victorian researchers dig deeper into what we can do to make good health and wellbeing accessible to more Victorians. And last week, we were excited to see two important projects highlighted at the 2025 Diversity and Inclusion in Leisure Forum.   Dr Rachel Kennedy from La Trobe University spoke about how we can create opportunities for young people with a disability to access gyms and leisure facilities like pools, using GYM-SPARC.   GYM-SPARC was designed in collaboration with young people with a disability. It’s free and includes eight different social support strategies. We’ll pop a link in the comments.   Dr Ryan Storr from Swinburne University of Technology outlined his findings so far as part of his work to capture a snapshot of the state of diversity, equity and inclusion across pools and leisure facilities in Australia. Making sure that all Australians can access what they need to achieve good health and wellbeing has never been more important – and we’re proud to support this work. 

It’s true – where we’re born, where we grow up, and where we live has a huge impact on our health.   You can learn more about our work in that space here: https://lnkd.in/gxfpDZrT 

Pre-packaged baby and toddler food should support good nutrition.   While fresh is best, we know that pre-packaged food gives you more time and energy to spend time with your kids, and that’s a good thing.   But as Food for Health Alliance’s new report reveals – a lot of baby and toddler foods we find on the shelves aren’t exactly what they seem.   From organic products that contain more sugar than gummy bears to inaccurate product names, manufacturers have been using a lot of shady techniques to appeal to our desire to make sure our kids get the best start in life.   But this could have serious health consequences down the track.   You can download FHA’s new report here: https://lnkd.in/gXwJ4K8P 

Uncle Ricky Baldwin is a busy man.   He’s the CEO and Head Coach of Koorie Academy Basketball, a member of the Reconciliation Action Plan working groups for VicHealth and the National Basketball League (NBL), the head coach of the Victorian Indigenous Basketball under 17 boys team, and the reigning Victorian NAIDOC Male Elder of the year – just to name a few of his incredible contributions.   Last week, our team was lucky enough to spend time with Uncle Ricky and cultural educator Chris Hume at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station and Oonah Health & Community Services Aboriginal Corporation in Healesville.   Uncle Ricky and Chris took the time to speak to us about the history of Coranderrk, their personal stories, and what good health means for them. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about avoiding illness – it includes dignity, connection, culture, and amplifying the voices of the communities we work with.   Uncle Ricky also lead our team through the process of making white ocre and placing handprints on an Aboriginal flag.   The flag will hang in our office – a reminder of our commitment to learning, listening, and growing as an organisation.   A huge thank you to Uncle Ricky, Chris Hume, and the whole team at Oonah Health & Community Services Aboriginal Corporation Aboriginal Health and Community Services for sharing your wisdom and time with us. 

For nearly thirty years, the Victorian Koori Surf Titles have given the best Aboriginal surfers the opportunity to showcase their skills on home turf – or waves.   But it’s about more than competition.   The Koori Surf Titles give kids and adults the opportunity to try their hands at surfing, guided by the expert team from Surfing Victoria. Congratulations to all the participants and especially to open category winners Delilah Chisholm and Jordie Campbell, who have been rewarded for their effort with wildcard entry into the 2025 Rip Curl Pro Trials at Bells Beach.   We’re proud to support your work. 

Health Star Ratings were supposed to make it easier for Australians to find healthy food at the supermarket.   But 10 years after their introduction, food manufacturers are nowhere near the government’s uptake target of 60%.   Today, we’ve released new research showing that one in two Australians don’t know if they’re buying healthy food and three in five Australians don’t know who to trust for advice about good nutrition.   As Executive Manager and Acting CEO Michelle Murray said to The Age – it’s time for the Federal Government to make Health Star Ratings mandatory. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gWrkKJTp 

Jo’s a Project Coordinator for Sports Focus, the Regional Sports Assembly in Central Victoria.   A huge part of her job is working out how to get young people, people from multicultural backgrounds, and women to join in physical activity.   That’s how Bendigo’s Karen community soccer tournament got started. Talking to community leaders, Jo learnt that there was a huge amount of interest in playing sport – but competing life demands made it tricky for community members to commit to the time needed to join a team.   Through Sports Focus, Jo was able to secure funding to help the Karen community run a series of day-long soccer tournaments instead.   More than 140 players got involved, and it brought the whole community together.   As Jo says – seeing it all come together was “such a highlight”.   And the impact it has on the mental and physical health of the community can’t be understated, either.   Congratulations to Jo and the team at Sports Focus – we're proud to support your work. Read more about Jo's story here: https://lnkd.in/gy3u6-ZB  

We’re thrilled to announce that Professor Anna Peeters, AM, FAHMS, CF, GAICD will be the new VicHealth CEO.   Professor Peeters has a long association with VicHealth, including as a Research Fellow and board member.   She’s made huge contributions to health promotion, leading the way with internationally recognised research towards improving health outcomes.  Prof Peeters comes to us from Deakin University, where most recently she was the Director of the Institute for Health Transformation and a Professor in Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health.   And importantly – she's a Victorian through and through.   We couldn’t be more excited to have Professor Peeters lead VicHealth into the future. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/gHgT8wtN

No matter who you are, playing a sport can improve your physical and mental health.   But we know that sporting clubs, teams and leagues haven’t always been the most welcoming or inclusive of places.   That’s why we’re proud to be a partner of Diversity & Inclusion in Sport Alliance (DISA). DISA brings together representatives from professional, amateur and community sports clubs and leagues to have big conversations about how we can make sport a safer, more inclusive place for all.   It’s important work – and this year’s DISA Forum brought it all together.  From Olympian Kieran Perkins sharing research with us on the benefits of dealing with discrimination in the first 60 seconds of it occurring to the unstoppable Shelley Ware reminding us that intention isn’t a magic shield to discrimination – we left with so much to reflect on.   Thank you to everyone involved with DISA for an incredible two days – we're proud to help you bring events like this to life.