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On the 20th of August 2007, the Victorian Premier, Mr John Brumby announced that that the Government would ask the Victorian Law Reform Commission for advice on drafting laws that reflect existing Victorian abortion practices. This came in response to a Private Members Bill to decriminalise abortion bought before the Parliament by Upper House MP Candy Broad.
The terms of reference for the Victorian Law Reform Commission inquiry are now available. Submissions to the inquiry are due in by the 9th of November 2007 and the Commission will report to the Government no later than the 28th of March 2008.
The Women's Health Victoria Clearinghouse has an extensive collection of resources on this topic which can be drawn on to inform submissions.
Women's Health Victoria has also prepared a written submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Abortion Law Reform.
Update: The Victorian Law Reform Commission report and recommendations were provided to government on March 28 2008, and this report was tabled in Parliament and made public on May 29 2008.
For more information, go the Abortion Law Reform page.
The Australian Women's Health Network (AWHN) is a community based, non-profit consultative organisation that provides a national voice on women's health issues.
AWHN have developed a paper titled 'Women's Health: The New National Agenda'. As a member of AWHN, Women's Health Victoria is assisting in the distribution of the paper and the call for comments.
Following the release of the discussion paper, the National Women's Health Summit was held in Canberra in September 2007. The summit was attended by over 100 delegates from around Australia representing a cross section of government departments, both at the Federal and State/Territory level, peak women’s organisations, Aboriginal leaders from around the country, and community organisations.
The Summit proceedings can be downloaded at http://dev2.digitalink.com.au/womenshealth/index.html
Username: womenshealth
Password: net
As a priority for action of the second stage of the Women's Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the Diveristy Unit of the Department of Human Services, with the input of numerous stakeholders, have developed the Gender and Diversity Lens for Health and Human Services.
The Gender and Diversity Lens is designed to assist programs and services incorporate gender and diversity into their planning cycles, which can contribute to the reduction of health inequalities.
The Framework outlines 12 key strategies to guide the advocacy work of the VWDN Advocacy Informaiton Service, and targets family violence and sexual assault as priority areas of concern. It seeks to intersect with the Victorian Government’s Family violence and sexual assault reform strategies currently being implemented under the Women’s safety strategy and Fairer Victoria policy.
BreaCan opens its doors to support women with gynaecological cancers
From May 1 2007 women with gynaecological cancer have been able to access up-to-date information and support through BreaCan.
In establishing a new information service for women with gynaecological cancer, BreaCan intends to fill a significant service gap by providing a safe and welcoming environment for women. In the first stage of the service expansion, women will be to access BreaCan's extensive resource library which has a range of up-to-date information about a number of different cancers and their treatment, information about practical support, emotional support and other psychosocial support services.
Clearinghouse Connector
The Clearinghouse Connector is a capacity building initiative designed to connect professionals and organisations that work with women to the resources available in the Women’s Health Victoria Clearinghouse.
Each monthly edition of the Clearinghouse Connector contains resources selected to provide the most up-to-date, relevant and useful information on a specific topic. Resources cover information from research, statistics, government policy, prevailing social conditions affecting women’s health status, and clinical and therapeutic management of health matters. All resources profiled in the Connector are available from the Clearinghouse collection.
Subscribe to the Clearinghouse Connector by emailing clearinghouse@whv.org.au
Previous editions of the Clearinghouse Connector are available here.
Women's health matters: from policy to practice: 10-point plan for Victorian women's health 2006-2010
The 10-Point Plan for Victorian Women's Health 2006-2010 has been developed to provide a framework for action. Gender as a determinant of health must be reflected in mainstream health policy and in health programs and services. This plan recognises the impact of gender in health and health inequalities and seeks to address these.
In November 2005, the 10 Point Plan Partners identified the need to:
The combined direct participation of 13 organisations, together with the support and contribution of numerous other organisations has helped make this plan and project successful. Organisations are listed within the 10 point Plan document.
Full text of the 10-Point Plan is available here.
A background paper entitled Setting an Agenda complements and builds on the 10-Point Plan providing a context for the plan's initiation and advocating for fulfilment of its objectives. Setting an Agenda background paper is available here.
To date, the outcomes are:
The third 10 Point Plan advocacy priority was prevention of violence against women. New resources are being made available through VicHealth for some of this work. We continue to advocate for an across-government strategy to put resources into this. While we recognise the importance of resourcing services that support women after violence has occurred, the current lack of adequate investment in prevention of violence continues to be a significant issue that needs to be addressed.
BreaCan
BreaCan is an information and support service for people affected by gynaecological cancers or breast cancer, their families and friends.
BreaCan offers a range of services and programs including a library, fortnightly information sessions, a ‘Feel Good’ gentle exercise program and services specific to the needs of women with advanced cancer.
Opening times: 10am-2pm every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday
Address: Ground floor, Queen Victoria Women's Centre, 210 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Postal address: GPO Box 1066, Melbourne VIC 3001
Phone: 1300 781 500 (cost of a local call for country callers)
Fax: 9921 0840
Email: breacan@breacan.org.au
A brochure with a map showing BreaCan's location is available here .
For more information about this valuable service, visit the BreaCan web site here.
Advocacy Information Service (AIS) for women with disabilities
The Victorian Women with Disabilities Network (VWDN) and Women's Health Victoria (WHV) are working together to assist organisations to progress an advocacy agenda on issues critical to the health of women with disabilities.
For more information about this service, visit the AIS page here.
The new QVWC InfoHub is a unique Victorian project developed by the Queen Victoria Women's Centre with project partners WIRE - Women's Information and Women's Health Victoria.
InfoHub is a gateway to trusted online resources for Victorian women and their organisations. InfoHub is for:
InfoHub content is divided into clusters and is provided by or drawn from the advice of women who are experts in their area.
You can visit the InfoHub here for more information about InfoHub or about the topics of interest to women. The site is still under development, but you can currently find information on health and wellbeing, violence against women, and work/family balance.
BreaCan Programs
What's On
BreaCan's What's On program offers a range of information sessions on a wide variety of topics of interest to those affected by a gynaecological or breast cancer. Covering emotional and psychological issues, effects on relationships, medical and surgical issues, treatment options, and general coping strategies,
The What's On sessions provide a wealth of information, but also much more. In a welcoming and understanding environment, people attending the sessions also find a strong social network that can ease feelings of loneliness and isolation that sometimes accompany challenging life events. The sessions are always interesting and uplifting.
Go to the BreaCan News page for upcoming sessions.
Making Connections
BreaCan's Making Connections program provides support and information to women with advanced cancer. The 2006 program built on the strong foundation established last year when this important service was inaugurated.
Go to the BreaCan News page for upcoming sessions.
‘Here and Now' program for women with advanced cancer
‘Here and Now' is an 8-week program co-facilitated by two experienced professional group leaders. Depending on the participants, the weekly sessions are conducted either face-to-face or via phone participation (teleconferenced so that women can participate from the comfort of their own home). The program offers an opportunity to discuss a range of issues including grief and loss, intimacy and sexuality, death and dying, talking with family and frids…
Contact Josie Scott, Co-ordinator – Advanced Cancer, on 1300 781 500 for further information and enrolment forms.
Each day, Clearinghouse staff at Women's Health Victoria scan online media sources to find articles of interest to the women's health sector. Links to the articles are compiled in a short document that is updated weekly. This document is a useful synopsis of up-to-the-minute reports on issues of importance to women's health and the women's health sector.
As part of its objective to make access to information easier, the Clearinghouse has also created a list of links to online news sources featuring current health issues in general. You can view health related news items at the following links:
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Content Publication Date: 11 November 2002 |
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