Physical Activity & Food
Why is physical activity and accessible and nutritious food a priority?
Both physical activity and accessible and nutritious food are closely linked with the prevention and management of chronic disease, mental health, general wellbeing, and social connectedness. Working on this issue enables Women’s Health Victoria to raise awareness of nutrition as a gendered issue, build relationships with influential individual organisations, and build capacity for change in practice that will improve women’s health outcomes. Physical activity and accessibility to nutritious food for Victorian women is one of our priorities because:
- Physical activity is ranked second only to tobacco control in being the most important factor in health promotion and disease prevention in Australia 1.
- Australian women (24%) participate less in organised sport or physical activity than men (30%) 2.
- Almost 60,000 Australians in low income working families go without meals or are food insecure 3.
- From the age of 24 (and as women begin to take on carer roles in families) more women than men report running out of food and being unable to afford more in the past 12 months 4.
What do we do to promote physical activity and accessible and nutritious food?
Women’s Health Victoria started work in the physical activity and accessible and nutritious food priority area in 2009. As a statewide organisation, we work to improve the health outcomes of all Victorian women through population wide health initiatives. We work with a range of individuals and organisations who work impacts on the health of Victorian women. This includes:
- Victorian Government departments
- Members of parliament
- Key policy and opinion leaders
- Information providers
- Researchers and educators
Physical activity and accessible and nutritious food resources
Browse our publications and resources relating to physical activity and accessible and nutritious food.
- VicHealth (2009) Physical Activity: How to create healthy communities. Available online at: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/en/Programs-and-Projects/Physical-Activity.aspx. ↩
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007) Involvement in organised sport and physical activity. Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. no. 6285.0. Available online at: http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6285.0Main+Features1Apr%202007?OpenDocument. ↩
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002). Cat. no. 4159: unpublished data used by the ACTU. Cited in VicHealth (2009) Physical Activity: How to create healthy communities. Available online at: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/en/Programs-and-Projects/Physical-Activity.aspx. ↩
- Department of Human Services (2008) Victorian Population Health Survey 2007. Available online at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthstatus/vphs.htm. ↩