This is a notification share from our colleagues at Australian Women’s Health Alliance. The AWHA’s Women’s health Hub is a national resource hub to access key evidence and policy in practice for women’s health.
Women’s Health Hub Project Update Jan 2024 [extract]
Resource spotlight
We’re excited to launch a new Policy Brief focused on the importance of high-quality research and evidence in boosting gender equity in Australia’s health care system.
Strengthening Gender Equity Through Research and Evidence argues that better research, evidence and data are required to understand the significant health inequities faced by priority populations of women.
It makes the case that health research should consider gender at every stage of the process, from conceptualisation through to reporting on implications.
Visit the Women’s Health Hub to view this important new addition to our Policy Brief series.
Funding opportunities
The Department of Health and Aged Care has released health promotion grants linked to implementation of the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030. In this round there is $4 million available nationwide, with an application closing date of 16 February 2024.
According to the Department, this grant opportunity aims to support innovative approaches to trialling new initiatives, or expanding existing health promotion activities that focus on improving health literacy, reducing risk, and improving health outcomes within priority population groups (as identified in the Strategy).
The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are to:
- improve women and girl’s health among priority population groups
- improve women and girl’s access to health information, regardless of location, socio-economic status, age, background or disability
- reduce the incidence of preventable mortality and morbidity caused by health inequalities and specific women’s population group health issues
- improve health literacy among priority population groups of women and girls, including increased understanding of risk and opportunities for improving health.
For further information visit Grant Connect with application ID GO6687.
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Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis AM is the Immediate Past President of the AFMW (2020-2023), former President of VMWS (2013 & 2017-2020) and current AFMW National Coordinator (2024-2026). She is a full time clinician who also holds positions on several not for profit organisations, driven by her passion for bridging gaps across the health sector. She is a leading women’s health expert, keynote speaker, climate change and gender equity advocate and government advisor. Magda is member of The Australian Health Team contributing monthly articles.
Magdalena was awarded a lifetime membership of the RACGP for her contributions which include past chair of Women in General Practice, longstanding contribution to the RACGP Expert Committee Quality Care, the RACGP eHealth Expert Committee. She is regularly invited to comment on primary care research though mainstream and medical media and contributes articles on various health issues through newsGP and other publications.
Magdalena has represented the RACGP at senate enquiries and has worked on several National Health Framework reviews. She is author of the RACGP Guide on Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery and co-reviewer of the RACGP Red Book Women’s Health Chapter, and reviewer of the RACGP White book
Both an RACGP examiner and University examiner, she undertakes general practice research and is a GP Educator with the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence, which develops education tools to assist the primary care sector identify, respond to and manage family violence . Roles outside of RACGP include the Strategy and Policy Committee for Breast Cancer Network Australia, Board Director of the Melbourne University Teaching Health Clinics and the elected GP representative to the AMA Federal Council. In 2022. she was award the AMA (Vic) Patrick Pritzwald-Steggman Award 2022, which celebrates a doctor who has made an exceptional contribution to the wellbeing of their colleagues and the community and was listed as Women’s Agenda 2022 finalist for Emerging Leader in Health.
Magdalena has presented at the United Nations as part of the Australian Assembly and was appointed the Australian representative to the World Health Organisation, World Assembly on COVID 19, by the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) in 2021. In 2023, A/Professor Simonis was included on the King’s COVID-19 Champion’s list and was also awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division for significant service to medicine through a range of roles and to women’s health.
