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Priority Work Areas

SIGNAL’s core work program has a dedicated focus on four key areas:

1. Developing and implementing national public health nutrition strategies
2. Promoting vegetables and fruit consumption
3. Developing, promoting and evaluating national guidelines
4. Developing communication and information sharing networks
   

Developing national strategies

SIGNAL has played a major role in the development of the latest national public health nutrition strategy – Eat Well Australia.

Eat Well Australia contains two complementary national nutrition strategies – one focusing on the whole of population and another on Indigenous Australians. The strategies were developed during 1999–2000 through a consultative and participatory process involving key stakeholders from government, non-government and industry organisations. The suite of documents produced includes two detailed reviews of the priority strategy areas and two strategic summaries.

Detailed reviews:

Eat Well Australia: an agenda for action in public health nutrition, 2000–2010 – 135 pages, [PDF, 912k]

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan, 2000–2010 – 56 pages, [PDF, 744k]

Strategic summaries:

Eat Well Australia: a strategic framework for public health nutrition, 2000–2010 – 36 pages, [PDF, 620k]

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan, 2000–2010: a summary – 28 pages, [PDF, 608k]

These strategies were endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers Conference in August 2001. Hard copies of the reports can be obtained from the SIGNAL email address: nphp@dhs.vic.gov.au

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Promoting vegetables and fruit consumption

One of SIGNAL’s primary objectives is promoting the consumption of vegetables and fruit. As a first step, SIGNAL has supported the development of several evidence-based documents (provided below). These documents have been produced to improve knowledge on increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit and will guide and progress SIGNAL’s commitment to this priority work area. It should be noted that these documents do not necessarily represent SIGNAL or jurisdictional policy unless specifically indicated.

Position Statement, Eat Well: the benefits of vegetables and fruit, 2000 [PDF, 91kb]

National Action Plan to increase consumption of vegetables and fruit, 2000 [PDF, 128kb]

An intervention portfolio to promote fruit and vegetable consumption: a pilot study in the area of nutrition for the NPHP, October 2000 [PDF, 700kb]
This two part report, summarises the process and results used in a pilot case study that applied a portfolio approach to define interventions to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. Part 1 retraces the steps and thinking which led to the final intervention portfolio.

An Intervention Portfolio to Promote Fruit and Vegetable Consumption – Part 2 – Review of Interventions (2000) [PDF, 642kb] Part 2 details the interventions that were reviewed in the portfolio exercise.

Dietary Guidelines for Older Australians (Note: this link to the National Health and Medical Research Council website will appear in a new browser window from where you can download the document as a PDF file) Scientific background paper on vegetables and fruit guideline – Chapter 5: Eat Plenty of vegetables (including legumes) and fruit, 1999.

The relationship between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and health status – report to the Australian Department of Health and Ageing and SIGNAL, CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, 1999 [PDF, 405kb]

NOTE: The SIGNAL appointed a Program Manager from May 2001 to December 2002 to progress implementation of its National Vegetables and Fruit Action Plan. The primary task for the Program Manager was to explore partnership opportunities with organisations and sectors that may share similar goals to the public health nutrition sector.

The outcome was positive with key stakeholders from the horticultural industry, food processing and retail sectors and non-gpvernment health organisations reaching agreement to work together to establish an umbrella organisation, the National Vegetables and Fruit Coalition.

For more information on SIGNAL collaborations, please see:

Use of SIGNAL logo by Industry and Non-Government Organisations.

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Developing, promoting and evaluating national guidelines

SIGNAL provides advice on the development, promotion, dissemination and evaluation of key national public health nutrition resources such as:

• The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, 1998
  (link to the Australian Department of Health and Ageing website)

The following publications are available from the National Health and Medical Research Council website.

• Dietary Guidelines for Older Australians, 1999

• Dietary Guidelines for Australians, 2003

• Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents, 2003

• Infant Feeding Guidelines for Health Workers, 2003

• Recommended Dietary Intakes for use in Australia, 1991
  (publication under review at June 2003)

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating has been disseminated nationally to key stakeholders within the health and education sectors. SIGNAL now plans to evaluate use of the Guide in various health and education settings.

An evaluation survey to assess the awareness, attitudes towards and use of the Guide by dietitians/nutritionists is near completion (results will be made available on the SIGNAL website when completed). Preliminary results indicate that it is not always appropriate to use the Guide with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. SIGNAL is currently developing an adapted version of the Guide for use in Indigenous communities.
Hard copies of the above publications can be ordered by emailing: nphp@dhs.vic.gov.au

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Developing communication and information sharing networks

SIGNAL welcomes and encourages input to key public health nutrition priority areas from external groups such as non-government, private sector, and food industry groups. SIGNAL has invited or been approached by several key stakeholders to share information on priority public health nutrition work including:

• non-government organisations (Diabetes Australia, Nursing Mothers’ Association of Australia, National Heart Foundation, Cancer Council Australia, Dietitians Association of Australia, Public Health Association of Australia, Victorian Home Economics and Textile Teachers Association, and the Weight Management Code Administration Council of Australia);
• food industry groups (Australian Horticultural Corporation, Bread Research Institute, Kellogg Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia); and
• others seeking SIGNAL advice and input to projects (Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the National Health and Medical Research Council).

SIGNAL is committed to improving methods of sharing information on priority public health nutrition issues through the development and wide dissemination of SIGNAL’s quarterly FOODChain newsletter, the SIGNAL website and input to organisation newsletters and conferences with a public health nutrition interest.

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