The Victorian Refugee Health Network (the Network) was established in June 2007 to facilitate greater coordination and collaboration amongst health and community services to provide more accessible and appropriate health services for people of refugee backgrounds.
The Network’s mission: Collaborating to reduce health disparities experienced by people from refugee backgrounds, including people seeking asylum.
The Network’s vision: Victorians from refugee backgrounds, including those seeking asylum, have timely access to appropriate services and other resources required to build and maintain health and wellbeing.
The Network’s values:
- Collaboration
- Accountability
- Responsiveness
- Political neutrality
In 2018 Victorian Refugee Health Network restructured to be better able to monitor and respond to issues arising, increase transparency of processes and provide greater opportunities for participation in Network activities. Central to the new structure are three statewide meetings per year. An executive group oversee the functioning of the network, and draw on input from Network participants to refine, endorse and monitor the Network’s strategic plan and work plan.
Our work
This year, about 6000 new refugees and humanitarian entrants will come to Victoria from many parts of the world. Their health and well-being is often affected by their experiences of trauma and hardship as refugees, along with the many adjustments of resettlement. The Network provides a forum for health services and practitioners to work collaboratively to address these needs.
The Network brings together a wide range of representatives from the health, settlement and community sectors who actively participate in the projects and initiatives of the Network. This work builds on the many activities and programs around the state, past and current, to support refugee health and wellbeing.
This website provides information on refugee health, relevant services, resources, protocols and training opportunities.
Our projects
The Victorian Refugee Health Network focuses on a number of key project areas, including: asylum seeker health, maternity and maternal and child health, language services and interpreters, immunisation, oral health, disability, primary care and access to specialist services, and resource development. Visit the Work of the Network page for details.
Acknowledgement of country
The Victorian Refugee Health Network reiterates it’s auspicing agency’s acknowledgement of country:
The primary locations of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc., Brunswick, Dallas, Dandenong, Sunshine, and our outpost location in Ringwood, are on the traditional lands of the Kulin nation. In keeping with Foundation House’s aspiration to heal individuals and communities we recognise the loss of land, children, language, lore and spiritual and physical wellbeing of the people of the Kulin nation and other Indigenous Victorians due to the impact of colonisation.
We believe that acknowledging the past and its impact on the present is vital in building strong Victorian communities. We recognise the survival and enduring strengths of Victorian Indigenous culture in spite of such dispossession and aim to build respectful and informed relationships with the Victorian Indigenous community based on the acknowledgment of their unique position as the traditional owners of Victoria. As such, Foundation House is committed to the acknowledgment and participation of Indigenous Victorians within Foundation House events and this is reflected in our official protocols.
