Jean Hailes for Women's Health applauds the Albanese Government's announcement yesterday of a significant investment to transform women's sexual and reproductive health in Australia.
These measures will give women more choice from the addition of new contraceptives and menopause hormone therapies on the PBS, more access to affordable long-acting reversible contraception, more education on the menopause transition, and more access to affordable sexual and reproductive care.
These measures will also address some key structural barriers to clinicians being able to provide optimal sexual and reproductive health care. Changes to MBS Item Numbers and more education and training on long-acting reversible contraception and menopause will go a long way to supporting clinicians across the nation to provide best practice care.
Jean Hailes CEO Dr Sarah White said the increased funding will have a huge impact on women and their communities.
“Women's health matters. It matters to women, their families and communities, and it matters to Australian society and the economy,” said Dr White.
“I am thrilled to see women’s health is recognised as an urgent priority by government. As the official national digital gateway for information on women’s health, Jean Hailes looks forward to continuing to work with government and key collaborators to support these initiatives.”
The investment will help address some of the issues found in the Jean Hailes' 2023 National Women's Health Survey. The survey was designed to explore just some of the effects of periods, pelvic pain and menopause, and showed these effects - on women's physical and emotional health and their ability to work and do daily activities - were substantial.
This $573.3 million investment will make a huge difference to women's health in Australia. We thank the Albanese Government for heeding a substantial body of research (not just ours), and listening to the stories of women and the advice of women's health advocates, and particularly Assistant Minister Kearney for her tireless work to ensure these stories and advice have been heard. We also thank the Federal Opposition for confirming they will match this investment if they are elected.
Read more information on the funding.
Read the findings of our 2023 National Women’s Health Survey.
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