Women continue to bear the emotional burden of the Pandemic and lack investment in prevention.

Local Women’s Health Service, Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) is raising concerns about the increased mental load that women in community are carrying with schools returning and the transition to “COVID normal”.

“While it is great news that the Omicron wave may have peaked, we are hearing reports of women who are under increased levels of anxiety and stress in our community trying to navigate the return to school environment,” says Kit McMahon, WHISE CEO.

“Lack of access to RATs, concerns about the safety of their children and families, access to enough N95 masks as well as managing increased levels of anxiety in their children are all exacerbating already alarming levels of poor mental health in women in our region.

“What is of major concern to us, is that this could have been avoided with proper investment in primary prevention in our public health system.

“Because of this, our public health system is asking everyday communities to manage epidemiological risk without having access to clear, consistent and reliable information and resources,” says Ms McMahon.

WHISE is the leading agency for primary prevention in women’s health in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne, and part of the only infrastructure that Victoria has in place to promote women’s health at state and regional level.

Together with other Women’s Health Services across Victoria, WHISE is calling for significant investment in primary prevention for women’s health this State election.

Current funding per woman across Victoria, to provide support for their wellbeing and health, is $2.07 per woman.

Victorian Women’s Health Services have advised the State Government that failing to address increasing illness in Victorian women through health promotion and primary prevention will cost the State $41.2 billion – which is the cost of avoidable acute health care to an already overstretched health system.

This can be addressed by increasing funding per woman through the Victorian Women’s Health Services program to $4.35 per women in metropolitan regions and $5.60 per women in rural and remote Victoria.

“The evidence about what works and what is needed to support good public health outcomes is clear and has been reinforced across the globe. In addition to high quality vaccination programs, we need to have investment to engage communities directly to build resilience. One size does not fit all. We have learnt over the last two years that women must not be invisible in COVID-19 recovery and public health investment,” says Ms McMahon.

Victorian women face multiple health crises that are worsening. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in mental health and wellbeing where we have data showing the difference in men and women’s wellbeing pre and during COVID.

• In 2020, an estimated 38.2% of Victorian women reported having ever been diagnosed with depression or anxiety compared with 29.0% of women in 2015
• In 2020, an estimated 25.1% of men reported having ever been diagnosed with depression or anxiety compared with 19.2% of men in 2015.1

  (1.Victorian Population Health Survey 2020 – Dashboard – Time Series)

“We really are depending upon the good will of women in our community to do the right thing, without providing them the resources or support to do so.  We are also asking women in our community to take on the risk of getting sick – to juggle their wellbeing and work with illness and COVID,” says Ms McMahon.

“We have seen what happens when we forget that it takes a healthy community to drive a productive economy and well women are at the heart of healthy communities. Let’s make sure we learn from mistakes and implement primary prevention strategies that will save lives and will get us back to COVID normal without negatively impacting our community.”

Key Points

The Women’s Health Services (WHS) network are asking for investment from the Victorian Government at this election to provide services to the 3,306,680 women across Victoria.

Current funding per woman across Victoria, to provide support for their wellbeing and health, is $2.07 per woman.

WHSs are calling for funding in five key areas of public health:

1. Primary prevention of poor mental outcomes for women – increase mental wellbeing to prevent mental illness.
2. Address the health consequences of gender inequity on women’s obesity and weight gain.
3. Renewing a Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy with increased focus on pelvic pain.
4. Stop gendered violence and the health consequences of this violence.
5. Build resilience for women in a changing society caused by increased risk of pandemic and natural disaster, and the impacts of climate change.

Victorian Women’s Health Services have advised the State Government that failing to address increasing illness in Victorian women through health promotion and primary prevention will cost the State $41.2 billion – which is the cost of avoidable acute health care to an already overstretched health system.

This can be addressed by increasing funding per woman through the Victorian Women’s Health Services program to $4.35 per women in metropolitan regions and $5.60 per women in rural and remote Victoria. This represents a fraction of the cost to the Victorian Taxpayer if women’s health is not supported.

Further Information

Gender Equity Victoria’s Victorian Government Budget Submission for 2022-2023 Recovery and Resilience which includes the Women’s Health Services call for action can be found via the Gender Equity Victoria website – https://www.genvic.org.au/focus-areas/gender-equal-economics/from-recovery-to-resilience/

Media contact: Doseda Hetherington · 0412 317 334 · dhetherington@whise.org.au · www.whise.org.au