The Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH), representing leading academic public health institutions across seven world regions, expresses its strong support for the continued independence of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) in Australia. We support CAPHIA’s call for the reversal of the decision to absorb VicHealth into the Victorian Department of Health.
For 38 years, VicHealth has been an international pioneer in health promotion. As the world’s first health promotion foundation funded by a dedicated tobacco levy, it set the global benchmark for upstream prevention. Its achievements – across tobacco control, gender equality, mental wellbeing, active living, community-led health promotion and action on the commercial and social determinants of health- have been widely studied, adapted and emulated. VicHealth is not simply a successful local model; it is a globally influential institution.
VicHealth’s independent statutory status has been central to its impact. Independence enables a health promotion agency to advocate on politically sensitive issues, innovate beyond electoral cycles, and build deep community trust. These attributes have allowed VicHealth to deliver transformative health outcomes and to shape international approaches to prevention.
Yet this decision comes at a moment when public health systems worldwide are under sustained pressure. In multiple regions, we are seeing the dismantling, discrediting and defunding of public health infrastructure. This includes the downgrading or absorption of health promotion agencies, shrinking education and research capacity, politicization of public health advice, erosion of democratic safeguards, and intensifying commercial interference in health policy.
From the restructuring of Public Health England, to cuts to health promotion programmes in parts of Europe, to the weakening of prevention institutions in North America and the Asia–Pacific—this global pattern is clear, and it is dangerous. It leaves populations more vulnerable to preventable disease, health inequities, climate shocks and misinformation. The decision regarding VicHealth must be understood in this wider context.
The GNAPH community notes with deep concern that absorbing VicHealth into a government department risks diminishing:
- Independent advocacy on harmful industries such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling and ultra-processed foods
- Long-term investment in prevention, health equity and community wellbeing
- Innovation and community-driven approaches that require flexibility, continuity and trust
- Workforce capability, international partnerships and research programs built over nearly four decades
- The visibility, accountability and leadership that only an independent health promotion foundation can provide
VicHealth has demonstrated what a sustained, independent prevention infrastructure can achieve: healthier populations, stronger communities and globally recognized best practice. Its demotion would be a significant loss not only for Victoria, but for the international public health community observing and learning from its success.
We therefore call on the Victorian Government to restore and protect VicHealth’s independent statutory status, and to reaffirm its commitment to strengthening prevention as the foundation of a healthier and more equitable society.
As academic public health leaders from around the world, we stand united in emphasizing that strong, independent and well-resourced public health institutions are essential. The global pattern of dismantling public health must be reversed – not accelerated – if we are to safeguard the health of populations now and for generations to come.