Health and Wellbeing in Bass Coast
Bass Coast Shire Council has joined forces with local health care service providers to devise a Municipal Public Health Plan (MPHP) for the Shire.
The MPHP, named Health and Wellbeing in Bass Coast, identifies the main health issues for Bass Coast residents and an action plan to address these issues.
The development of the Plan had challenged the way Council viewed its responsibility to the wellbeing of the community.
Traditionally MPHPs focused on universal public health issues, with the main focus being on the prevention of infectious diseases by provision of immunisation programs, food safety and mosquito eradication.
Today, the main health issues for the community are lifestyle illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, cancer and mental illness.
It is clear that Council plays a very important role in the prevention of many of these illnesses. This may be directly as part of immunisation programs or indirectly as part of the development and maintenance of bicycle and walking tracks, which enable the community to increase their levels of physical activity.
Council received funding to conduct research and consultation thanks to advocacy by the South Coast Health Services Consortium (SCHSC), of which Council is a member.
A reference group including representatives from various health service organisations was also established to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate the Plan.
State government legislation requires all councils to develop a MPHP.
The MPHP is available for download from the right hand side of this screen.
For enquiries, please contact Council's Social Planner, Bass Coast Shire Council, PO Box 118, Wonthaggi VIC 3995.
Note: All downloads on this page are in Adobe PDF format. To view these documents you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer. Acrobat Reader is free of charge, available from Adobe's website.
