Healthy parks healthy people : annotated bibliography

This annotated bibliography is part of a joint initiative between Parks Victoria, the International Park Strategic Partners Group, and Deakin University. All organisations recognise the significance of the health and wellbeing benefits from interacting with nature in park settings, the implications for public health, and the lack of collated information on this topic. This document brings together significant research on the health benefits of interacting with nature, not previously compiled, to provide park managers with key references to guide decision-making, and future park planning. Criteria for inclusion included significance of the work, and relevance to either the health benefits of contact with nature or implications for park management and planning. Funding was provided by the International Park Strategic Partners Group.

Food and move project, promoting healthy eating & physical activity in a secondary school setting, pat 1: baseline data, interventions and future recommendations

The Food and Move project was a collaborative project with the students, staff and parents from four Warrnambool secondary colleges which focussed on promoting healthy eating and physical activity in secondary schools and built capacity for ongoing health promotion to address overweight/obesity.

The project aimed to:

1. Increase awareness amongst students, parents and staff of the links between regular physical activity and good nutrition to achieve optimal health.
2. Increase awareness amongst students, parents and staff of childhood/adolescent obesity and its implications for future health.
3. Improve the opportunities for students to access healthy food at their school canteen.
4. Improve the opportunities for students to access physical activity at recess and lunchtime.
5. Prepare a resource package of initiatives for use in secondary colleges to support the provision of opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity at Warrnambool secondary colleges.
6. Support the development of appropriate physical activity and nutrition curricula.

G21 healthy region project part 1 : business plan

Executive Summary
Background
G21 Geelong Region Alliance (G21), through the partnership activities of the
G21 Health & Wellbeing Pillar, seeks to position health and wellbeing as a
central element to all regional planning processes and outcomes. As a result, G21 wanted to explore the potential application of the World Health
Organisation’s (WHO) ‘Healthy Cities’ approach across the region to provide a comprehensive framework and set of principles to inform future planning and decision-making.
With this aim, G21 commissioned Deakin University to undertake a 6-month
independent research project. The research project involved two stages:
Part 1: A Healthy Region Research Report involved scoping and determining:
- The suitability of the World Health Organisations (WHO) ‘Healthy Cities’
approach to the G21 region; and
- The capacity of G21 Geelong Region Alliance to be the organisation to
facilitate this approach across the region.