Improving health and wellbeing outcomes for women and gender diverse people

The issue

There are gendered differences in the health and wellbeing needs and outcomes of all Victorians. For instance, the Victorian Women’s Health Atlas reports (WHV 2025a):

• Cancer deaths comprise over one quarter of all female causes of death and over one third of female years of life lost in Australia.

• Women have a higher prevalence of chronic disease and live more years of life with a disability from chronic disease than men. 

• Australian women are nearly twice as likely as men to suffer from mental illness.

• Barriers and service gaps remain in meeting the changing sexual and reproductive health needs of girls, women and some trans men and gender diverse people across their life course.

Discrimination, stigma and uneven access to high-quality, affordable health services prevent women and gender diverse Victorians from accessing the healthcare and information they need.

Our work

Our goal is that all women and gender diverse people in Victoria can access the health information, supports and services they need, whenever and wherever they need them.

• We provide tailored, accessible and reliable information and training to support women and gender diverse people to make positive, informed choices about their health across their life course.

• We improve health service provision, reach and accessibility so that women and gender diverse people are better able to access high-quality, affordable testing, treatment and care when and where they need it.

• We deliver initiatives that address the gendered social determinants of health, and support women and gender diverse people to maintain good physical and mental health, such as safety, social connectivity, civil society participation and economic equality.

Case studies