What We Do
As a non-government organisation, WCHM works to improve the health and wellbeing of all ACT women, with an emphasis on those groups who are most at risk and for whom access to services is difficult. This is because there is evidence that poorer socioeconomic groups tend to have poorer nutrition, less physical activity in leisure time, greater prevalence of smoking and more damaging patterns of alcohol use.However these factors are considered in the context of the life circumstances or determinants of health of women experiencing disadvantage (including their social and economic circumstances, indigenous status and ethnicity, stress, gender, early life development and experiences, social exclusion, work and unemployment, and social supports)(Marmot & Wilkinson, 1999; WHO, 1999) because these circumstances can restrict them from "making healthy choices the easy choices" (Comino & Howell, 2000).
Because all aspects of a woman’s life influences how she feels and how healthy she is, the approach we use is not based on a medical or clinical approach but uses a social determinants model of health. This model recognises that where we live and work, whether we have access to transport, what type of food we can afford, whether our children or partners are well, whether we can speak English or not, are all factors which affect women’s capacity to manage their own health and their health care choices.
It also recognises that the failure of some services and systems to address issues of access to appropriate services and programs for diverse groups can create inequalities in women’s health status. Women affected by health issues or a life experience, (such as separation or divorce, mental health issues, sexual assault, domestic violence or disordered eating), need access to providers of health care that understand the context of their lives.
WCHM aims to promote the health of women by working with women and services to ensure that they can contribute to and are aware of the health choices that are available to them and so that they feel in control of their own health and the impact of the social determinants. We do this because it does not work to prescribe a diet to a woman that she cannot afford, or to give pamphlets or instructions in English to a woman who only speaks Dinka, or to expect a woman to attend a weekly appointment when she can only afford to purchase one bus trip each fortnight.WCHM aims to:
- Draw attention to the health issues affecting women
- Improve women’s access to gender-sensitive health care
- Identify and address barriers to women’s health and wellbeing
- Advocate to influence change
- Build the capacity of peer-led women’s support groups
- Provide women with access to health and wellbeing information, research and resources to increase their knowledge and improve their health behaviours
- Empower women to achieve the highest possible standard of health and wellbeing
- Focus on areas of disadvantage by identifying the needs of groups of women at risk of experiencing disadvantage: Women with disabilities, institutionalised women, women living with mental health issues, culturally and linguistically diverse women and older women
- Health Promotion
- Social Research
- Community Development
- Capacity Building
- Information Provision and Education
- Working across sectors
- Advocacy
For more information about the philosophy and values of WCHM visit the Who We Are section of our website.
References:
1. Marmot, M & R Wilkinson, Social determinants of health, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999.
2. World Health Organisation, Reducing inequities in health: Proposal for health promotion policy and action, Consensus statement, Health Documentation Services, Copenhagen, 1999.
3. Comino, E & S Howell, ‘The facts’ in E Harris, P Sainsbury & D Nutbeam (eds), Perspectives on health inequity, Australian Centre for Health Promotion, Sydney, 2000.