Programs and projects

The Queensland ORCHID Program:

ORCHID stands for “Our Resilient Communities: Healthy Innovative and Diverse” and has been created to make the World Health Organisation’s healthy cities and towns approach into a reality in Queensland.

We have an abundance of needs assessments that have shown that Queensland has an alarming incidence of preventable chronic diseases, less than 10% of Queenslanders consume sufficient vegetables, 11% of Queensland adults smoke daily, and only 41% of children are active every day¹. We know the problems and we have the evidence on how to reduce community risk factors and improve protective factors. Now we need act on it.

What we need:

• A joined up, systems thinking approach, relevant for Queensland to:
  • Build capacity for prevention
  • Translate evidence into practice
  • Create an integrated state-wide network
  • Celebrate, share and upscale success
  • Showcase Queensland as leaders in health promotion
• Robust community action indicators to complement the Queensland Chief Health Officer Report 2018¹– what’s working and not working in communities to reduce risk factors and improve protective factors?

The research questions ORCHID aims to address include:

• What are the enabling factors for Queensland communities to address social determinants of health and build capacity to improve local health outcomes?
• How can innovation through technology enhance Queensland communities access to and implementation of evidence based approaches around key risk factors and settings?
• How can short, medium and long term health outcomes and community capacity indicators be measured, shared and implemented to continuously improve the health outcomes of Queensland communities?
• How can a coordinated network of Queensland health communities be facilitated to connect, learn, share and improve local health outcomes?

Our Projects

^{1. Queensland Health. (2018). The Health of Queenslanders 2018: Report of the Chief Health Officer Queensland. Retrieved from Queensland Government Queensland Health website https://www.health.qld.gov.au/research-reports/reports/public-health/cho-report/current/full}