Healthy Food Connect: A collaborative approach to understanding and improving residents’ access to food that is safe, nutritious and culturally valued in the Central Hume Region of Victoria — Agentur Pty Ltd
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  3.   Healthy Food Connect: A collaborative approach to understanding and improving residents’ access to food that is safe, nutritious and culturally valued in the Central Hume Region of Victoria

  Healthy Food Connect: A collaborative approach to understanding and improving residents’ access to food that is safe, nutritious and culturally valued in the Central Hume Region of Victoria (45)

Clare Schultz 1 , Barbara Young 2 , Sarah Nevin 3 , Kathryn McQualter 4 , Emma Ghys 5 , Caitlyn Hoggan 6
  1. Northeast Health Wangaratta, WANGARATTA, VIC, Australia
  2. Health Promotion, Ovens and King Community Health Service, Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia
  3. Integrated Health Promotion, Central Hume Primary Care Partnership, Benalla, Victoria, Australia
  4. Community Health, Benalla Health, Benalla, Victoria, Australia
  5. Health Promotion, Alpine Health, Bright, Victoria, Australia
  6. Health Promotion, Womens Health Goulborn Northeast, Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia

Background:

Healthy eating choices are strongly impacted by the environments for health. In 2010 50.2% of adults in the Hume Region did not meet the fruit and vegetables guidelines and the region was ranked 3rd out of 8 for Victoria. The Central Hume Primary Care Partnership (CHPCP) Health Promotion Healthy Eating Plan utilises a collaborative approach to tackle this issue.

Methods:

Using the Healthy Food Connect model, Health Promotion agencies worked with local government in their local areas to undertake a food access needs assessment across the environments for health; built, natural, economic and socio-cultural. A community engagement strategy was utilised to identify and build on the strengths of existing food activities. This included The Victorian Local Government Association Food Security Scanning Tool, Healthy Food Basket surveys, Questionnaires, key informant interviews, food outlet audits and visual GIS mapping.

Results/Discussions:

Healthy Food Connect has enabled the development of healthy eating strategies which build on the strengths in our communities. Food Security Reports completed for Wangaratta, Benalla, Mansfield and Alpine Local Government Areas (LGAs) identified opportunities for action. These saw healthy eating incorporated into all local government Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plans and the development of:
• Local food coalitions to lead community identified food security issues by steering projects, reducing duplication, identifying gaps and enabling proactive partnerships to form between organisations when working together (two currently formed in the CHPCP)
• GIS maps outlining local food deserts with a wide range of applications
• Targeted interventions to meet the needs of the whole community and specific vulnerable groups.

Conclusions/implications:

CHPCP agencies continue to work collaboratively and engage with our community and local government to create a sustainable impact enabling access for all to food that is safe, nutritious and culturally valued. The healthy food connect model has guided us in helping achieve these outcomes.

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