Healthy Together Geelong is one of 12 prevention areas under the Victorian State Government’s Healthy Together Victoria initiative which is a $100m cluster randomised trial of a novel, ‘whole-of-system’ intervention which has as one of its aims to halt and reverse rising trends in adulthood obesity. The trial is a world first, at scale attempt to apply and evaluate complexity and systems thinking approaches to primary prevention of chronic disease including obesity and its determinants.
Healthy Together Geelong operates out of the City of Greater Geelong local government authority in partnership with Barwon Health and Bellarine Community Health. Over ¼ million people live in the City of Greater Geelong. The Council area is home to Victoria’s second largest city and is a major regional hub for leisure, work and services.
The Victorian State Government Department of Health has tasked Healthy Together Communities of which Geelong is one with a) assisting 75% of businesses with 20 or more staff a State-wide Achievement Program to create healthy environments b) assisting 95% of the 180 long day care centres, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools to work through a State-wide Achievement Program to create healthy environments c) reducing rates of unhealthy weight across the population, reducing smoking prevalence, increasing serves of fruit and vegetables and increasing physical acitivty d) bringing about systems change to improve the lives of people where they live, learn, work and play through impacting on the many determinants of health that local government conrtol and/or influence.
This presentation move beyond talk of scaling up obesity prevention initaitives and presents examples of what works and lessons for delivering at scale in a systems intervention.