Health consumers tell us that it can be challenging to find healthy options in their community. This includes what options are available in our food environment, as well as access to options where people can easily and safely enjoy physical activity.
At Health Consumers’ Council, we believe health consumers and the community can play a role in advocating for healthier environments.
Have your say
In preparation for a consultation held by the WA Department of Planning we hosted a community conversation on how to have your say on the planning environment in WA.
You can watch this presentation by Ainslie Sartori from Cancer Council WA as she outlines some of their work on this topic. Submissions closed on 31 August 2021.
Connect with others
Join over 115 people in our private moderated Facebook group, and/or join the hundreds of others on our mailing list to hear regular updates on work in this area.
You can also follow Health Consumers’ Council on Facebook for updates across all our projects.
Find out more
Here are a few resources that provide information about how a healthier environment could look, and what’s important when planning our communities.
Public health planning for local government
Many local governments advocated for public health planning and are producing public health plans in anticipation for the commencement of Part 5 of the Public Health Act 2016.
WA Health is supportive of this initiative and encourages local governments to commence the process of developing their local public health plan.
Find out more about public planning for local government at https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Public-health-planning
Healthy active by design – from the Heart Foundation
You can find a whole range of great resources on this page https://healthyactivebydesign.com.au/
In particular, we find these resources very useful:
- What do Australians want? Results of a consumer survey of over 2,800 people across Australia.
- Find out more about the survey results here.
- Click here to download a WA summary.
- A list of resources about the built environment – https://healthyactivebydesign.com.au/resources/publications
- How walkable is your suburb? Have a look at this list, then rate your suburb next time you’re out on your walk. Click here to find out more and see the list.
Obesity prevention work by Cancer Council WA
The Obesity Prevention team at Cancer Council WA publish a regular newsletter for people interested in their work aimed at changing public policy to drive healthier environments.
- You can find out more about their work and read through materials on cancer prevention through physical activity (prevention of obesity) here: https://cancerwa.asn.au/cancer-prevention/physical-activity/
- A summary of a research project is available through library databases: Blake, M., Bromberg, M., & Parnell, S. (2020). Analysing Law and Policy to Create an Obesity Management Policy. The University of Western Australia.
Climate change and health
You can link with other people who are taking action to address the impact of climate change on human and environmental health
- WA Climate Justice Union
- Doctors for the Environment
- WA inquiry into climate health – report from consultation started in 2019, and published in 2020
This is not an exhaustive list of resources. If you know of others we could include, please send them to clare.mullen@hconc.org.au
Last updated 13/08/21