Who We Are

The Women’s Centre for Health Matters Inc. (WCHM) is a community-based not for profit organisation which works in the ACT and surrounding region to improve women’s health and wellbeing.  WCHM believes that the environment and life circumstances which each woman experiences affects her health outcomes. This is called the social determinants of health model which sees "health as a complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (World Health Organisation, 1958). 

WCHM’s objectives (as stated in the WCHM Constitution) are to improve the health and wellbeing of women in the ACT and surrounding regions, working within a social determinants of health framework, by focusing on areas of possible disadvantage and using research, community development and health promotion with the following aims:

• To provide women with access to reliable and broad ranging health related information which allows informed choices to be made about each woman’s own health and wellbeing
• To identify the unmet health and wellbeing needs of women
• To foster the optimum provision of women's health care by encouraging cooperation and co-ordination among existing services
• To advocate for change in health related services to ensure responsiveness to women’s needs
• Through the application of a health promotion framework with the social determinants model of health, to prevent illness, disease and injury and promote independence, health and wellbeing using a variety of interventions
• To identify and respond to the health issues of the women of the ACT and surrounding regions and to inform the public, health service providers, policy makers and funders about these issues
• To be informed by, and encourage the validation of, women's experiences of health and ill-health
• To empower women and communities through the use of information and educational resources to act on health matters
• To work to improve women’s health and wellbeing through participation, collaboration and partnerships with women, the community, women’s services and other organisations

For more information about our work visit the What We Do section of our website.