Queensland has a history of prioritising health and wellbeing, with a recently-established agency taking the lead, says Liz Terry

The state of Queensland, Australia, has its own independent health agency called Health and Wellbeing Queensland (HWQld) which was fortuitously established in 2019, following community consultation, putting it in the best position to support people through the pandemic.

The organisation’s strapline is ‘a bold idea to make healthy happen’, its patron is the governor of Queensland, Dr Jeannette Young and CEO is Robyn Littlewood.

The organisation is already delivering on a wide range of initiatives to get Queenslanders active, improve food literacy and overcome inequity, with one example being the Generation Queensland (Gen Q) campaign, an initiative that envisions children born today experiencing better health outcomes than the generations of Queenslanders before them.

The Gen Q vision is supported by actions designed to deliver by bringing together various parts of the preventative health system, including a population data platform, a grants scheme, a community insights panel and a health and wellbeing centre for research innovation.

“By applying a collective, equity-informed approach, a generational shift can be achieved to better the health and wellbeing of all Queenslanders,” says HWQld, “particularly children and young people.”

HWQld is also collaborating with Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food and Food Revolution Campaign (www.jamiesministryoffood.com) and Good Foundation (www.thegoodfoundation.com.au) to deliver hands-on food literacy training.

For almost ten years the partnership has supported the successful delivery of the Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food programmes in Queensland, bringing Jamie’s easy and healthy cooking classes and healthy tips and tricks to Queenslanders across the state.

Gen Q and the Jamie Oliver collaboration are just two examples of work being undertaken to drive change in levels of wellbeing in Queensland and HWQld has programmes operating and in development across a wide range of other areas of health and prevention.

Whole government approach
The organisation is develop a whole-government response to challenges and lack of healthy equity that have been amplified by the pandemic.
Queensland has a number of key issues to address, as obesity rate forecasts indicate that children born in 2023 could have a reduction in life expectancy of between 0.6 and 4.1 years depending on where they live.

This means the median age of death in Brisbane is 82 years versus 51 years in parts of North Queensland – a difference of 31 years in the same state.

This is partly because the obesity rates of First Nations children aged 10-14-years are almost double that of non-First Nations Children in the same age group. “These are systemic challenges and they require systemic responses to bring systems together,” says HWQld, “We must align drivers and policy innovations across government while also energising and engaging across sectors and with the community.”

HWQld has worked with stakeholders and funded research to guide the development of major government strategies around obesity, prevention, remote food security and equity, that will be key to ensuring better health for the children of tomorrow.

“We began as a simple idea for a health promotion agency,” says HWQld. “We’ve been given a mandate to develop a new way of working that requires innovation, partnerships and an element of risk-taking that government is not well placed to deliver.

“While we’re accountable to government and the broader community, we’re also an independent organisation that will work relentlessly to achieve outcomes that benefit the whole of Queensland.”