The Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program
The Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program will deliver tangible improvements in health and wellbeing for children and create a foundation for ongoing responsive and relevant child health initiatives. In partnership with rural and urban communities throughout Victoria, the program will assess and analyse child health and wellbeing, identify key problems such as obesity, poor dental health, accidents and morbidity, develop and implement intervention strategies in cross-community settings and evaluate outcomes and effectiveness. The outcomes and findings will provide the evidence to effect the systemic changes necessary to significantly improve child health and wellbeing.
The Program was established with the 2008 Jack Brockhoff Centenary Gift, which will make a significant contribution to building long term human resource investment in this program, including the appointment of Professor Elizabeth Waters of the McCaughey Centre to The Jack Brockhoff Chair of Child Public Health. The program will provide a fitting legacy to Sir Jack Brockhoff, who through his generosity in establishing The Jack Brockhoff Foundation, has provided significant benefit to the people of Victoria.
In 2007 the University of Melbourne identified child health and wellbeing with a particular focus on health inequalities and equity as an important priority and recruited Professor Elizabeth Waters and her team to address this issue. A major program of work was initially supported by the Vice-Chancellor and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences with strategic research initiative funding. The appointment of Professor Waters as the inaugural The Jack Brockhoff Chair of Child Public Health will provide the program with long-term sustainability – maximising the impact for Victoria’s children and families.
The success of The Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program draws on a commitment to community engagement and partnerships. This is critical to the success of all aspects of the program from the identification of research questions; the design and development of research studies; the engagement of health intervention participants; the implementation of intervention programs and the uptake of the results. Professor Waters and her team have a proven track record in engaging and empathising with community and a strong commitment to hearing the voices of children and families.
The Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program will provide a public health focus in child health and wellbeing across the university and for university affiliates such as the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and the Royal Children’s Hospital Education Institute. Drawing on strong, existing partnerships with Deakin University Public Health Research Cluster, regional and metropolitan local councils, schools, pre-school centres and community organisations, Professor Waters and her team will ensure that the program is relevant to the children and families throughout Victoria.
Professor Water’s role as leader of the international Cochrane Collaboration Public Health Review Group and member of the advisory board of the Cochrane Child Health Field will help to ensure that the work is at the cutting edge of international efforts in child public health practice. The outcomes of the program will translate into public policy through Professor Waters’ strong commitment to public advocacy and a close working relationship with Government Departments.