Focus
We are pleased to announce that the Thriving Perth Portal has been awarded Healthy Communities Grant funding from Healthway to develop a HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS AUDIT TOOL for local government. This will support councils with the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their Public Health Plans, which are required under the Public Health Act 2016.
Read the press release here: Strengthening communities through public health planning
The project will pilot the use of the Thriving Perth Portal to undertake health-focused environmental and urban design audits that assess how local environments support or hinder healthy behaviours. We will develop and apply a suite of spatial data layers and indicators focused on evidence-based environmental determinants of health, specifically aligned with Public Health Plan objectives and actions. This will provide councils with baseline and benchmarking data to help identify and prioritise interventions that can deliver the greatest health and liveability benefits, while supporting the translation of Public Health Plan actions into practical on-ground implementation. Ongoing data updates will enable councils to track progress, evaluate environmental change and impacts, meet reporting requirements, and integrate public health priorities with existing strategies, priorities and investment.
In doing this, we are working with the health promotion teams from the North Metropolitan and East Metropolitan Health Service providers and local governments to use and apply a wide range of state and local government datasets, assess how existing data need to be refined, and develop new indicators where required to ensure the information is fit for purpose. This process also helps identify gaps in the data needed by councils and guides how new datasets and indicators can be developed to better support public health planning.
Further results and updates will be shared as this work progresses – keep an eye on the Case Studies page for future developments.
We are seeking local governments interested in working with us to trial and further develop the HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS AUDIT TOOL within their public health planning processes. Local governments interested in working with us on the development or implementation of their Public Health Plans are encouraged to get in touch.
Healthway and the Thriving Perth Portal – creating a healthier WA together.