News and Events

New condom machines at Footscray Library

The Action for Equity partnership is excited to announce that condom vending machines have been installed in the public toilets at Footscray Library.

Access to condoms is a key public health consideration, because using condoms and lubricant consistently and correctly can prevent the transmission of sexually transmissible infections (STIs), including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV and blood borne viruses, and can protect against unwanted pregnancies.

Research shows that the male condom is the single most efficient available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV and other STIs. Research also suggests that young people, particularly young men, prefer to access low-cost condoms from semi-private places such as local parks, school toilets and shopping malls.

So while the machines might seem pretty ordinary, they can support big outcomes for the sexual and reproductive health of people in the west.

Installing these machines is part of a regional strategy to improve access and availability to condoms by increasing the number of vending machines in public places. Women’s Health West, on behalf of the partnership, would like to acknowledge Maribyrnong City Council for implementing the condom vending machine project within the City of Maribyrnong.

The condom vending machine project is one of a number of objectives under Action for Equity, the sexual and reproductive health plan for Melbourne’s west.

For more information about the project, please contact us on 9689 9588.

Footscray library CVM_FB The new condom vending machines at Footscray Library are unassuming but mighty.
Photo by Chiedza Malunga

Women’s Health West to hire a new children’s counsellor

12 June 2015 | Brimbank Leader

WOMEN’S Health West will be able to offer counselling to an extra 56 children a year, thanks to a much needed cash injection from the State Government. The government has announced a $3.5 million boost to counselling services for survivors of family violence across the state.

The government’s statement said the money would be allocated according to need, with six areas — including Melbourne’s west — facing the greatest demand. Women’s Health West chief executive Dr Robyn Gregory said the organisation was “very pleased” to be given $108,584 for the 2015-16 financial year, although some of the money would come through before then.

Support lacking for mums, kids

More women’s services needed in the west to cope with crisis

10 June 2015 | Moonee Valley Leader

VICTIMS of family violence in Melbourne’s West are not getting the support they need owing to a significant shortage in refuges. Women’s Health West chief executive Dr Robyn Gregory says the west needs at least two more refuges to cater for victims. The western suburbs urgently need at least two more refuges for women who are fleeing extreme family violence, the head of Women’s Health West says.

Shortage of shelter

9 June 2015 | Wyndham Leader
WYNDHAM is in desperate need of a refuge for women fleeing family violence and Women’s Health West wants the State Government to act. In a submission to the Federal Government’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, the service said the population growth in the west had meant women and children escaping violent homes were facing “huge unmet needs” because the region did not have enough shelters to accommodate them.

Urgent call for shelter

9 June 2015 | Maribyrnong Leader
WITH reports of domestic violence in Maribyrnong almost tripling in the past four years, a leading women’s health service is calling for at least two more refuges in the west… The submission reports that a new purpose-built centre with crisis accommodation and counselling and therapy rooms was “long overdue”. Women’s Health West chief executive Robyn Gregory said the west had just two women’s refuges, the lowest number across metropolitan Melbourne.

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