Content components We are committed to promoting and protecting the health and wellbeing of everyone in our community, with a focus on those who need it most. We are also committed to empowering individuals and our community to make healthy choices and improve overall quality of life. The circumstances and places in which we are born, live, work and age affect our health, and we aim to address these factors to achieve fair and better health outcomes for everyone in our community.In seeking to address our health priorities, Council will prioritise action towards those most likely to experience inequities in health and wellbeing. These population groups include: First Peoplesmulticultural communitiesLGBTQIA+ communitiespeople with disability (including chronic and mental ill-health conditions)carerssocially isolated peoplefinancially vulnerable people (including people living on low incomes and people who are homeless or living in social housing)womenmen over 35 yearschildren and young peopleolder people. Further information about each of these population groups can be found on Council’s Population groups webpage.Council also recognises that every person has multiple and intersecting identities, needs and experiences that affect their health and wellbeing.Our health prioritiesOverall, the Boroondara community reports good health and quality of life.However, we identified 6 health priorities for Council to focus on. These came from research and consultation completed to develop the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2025–29. Expand all Collapse all Improve mental wellbeing and social inclusion Improving mental wellbeing and social inclusion means ensuring people can be linked to appropriate mental health and social inclusion services across the life-course. Through prioritising good mental health and wellbeing, we reduce stigma, increase social connection, improve physical health, promote productivity and create safer environments.Read more about our health priority statistics on our Improve mental wellbeing and social inclusion webpage. Increase physical activity and active living Increasing physical activity and active living means integrating physical activity as part of an active approach to life. Sport, active recreation and active travel are all types of physical activity. Active neighbourhoods and cities are more liveable, with higher levels of social capital and community cohesion and lower levels of crime. Read more about our health priority statistics on our Increase physical activity and active living webpage. Increase healthy eating Increasing healthy eating means wanting everyone to enjoy good nutrition for optimal physical and cognitive development. Promoting healthy food environments to support people to adopt healthy diets can positively impact healthy eating. Read more about our health priority statistics on our Increase healthy eating webpage. Improve gender equality and prevent gender-based violence Improving gender equality and prevent gender-based violence means ensuring everyone is free from all forms of violence, including physical, emotional, psychological, financial and sexual. Family violence involves controlling or dominating a family member, causing them to fear for their own or another person’s safety and wellbeing. Primary prevention aims to prevent family violence and gender-based violence before it occurs. Promoting gender equality is crucial for the prevention of violence against women. Read more about our health priority statistics on our Improve gender equality and prevent gender-based violence webpage. Tackle climate change and its impacts on health Tackling climate change and its impacts on health means reducing emissions, mitigating future effects and supporting climate adaptation. Climate is a key factor that affects health equity. Both mitigation and adaptation efforts can improve health. For example, increasing tree canopy cover reduces carbon dioxide and urban heat, while providing shade and better air quality. Efforts to address climate change, from reducing pollution to improving diet, represent one of the greatest opportunities to improve health this century. Read more about our health priority statistics on our Tackle climate change and its impacts on health webpage. Reduce harm (namely injury, alcohol and emerging harms) Reducing harm (namely injury, alcohol and emerging harms) means addressing harms our community experiences associated with injury from a broad range of causes including transport and falls and reducing harm from alcohol consumption. Read more about our health priority statistics on our Reduce harm: injury, alcohol and emerging harms webpage. The Health Priority Action Plan outlines how we will implement these health priorities. *Department of Health (2023) Victorian public health and wellbeing plan 2023–27, Department of Health, accessed 5 July 2025. Download the Health Priority Action Plan Health Priority Annual Action Plan 2025-26 305.37 KB [PDF] 27 August 2025
