August 8th, 2025Better health for women

Women and girls across the state can get the health care they need, closer to home.

Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas recently visited the Grampian Health’s Women’s Health Clinic to announce the second round of funding for the Women’s Health Scholarship program for health care professionals working in Victoria’s network of Women’s Health Clinics and Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Hubs.

The program has awarded more than 420 scholarships to date, supporting staff to undertake training and upskilling in the delivery of thorough, safe and comfortable women’s healthcare.

The scholarships offer the chance to grow their skills in areas like IUD insertion, sexual and reproductive health, pelvic physio training, menopause and PCOS, as well as training to promote cultural safety and remove existing barriers for First Nations women, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds and LGBTIQA+ communities.

At Grampians Health, 33 scholarships worth a total of $112,000 have been awarded to health care staff in the past two years to train practitioners and nurses working across a range of professions including nursing, midwifery, obstetrics, gynaecology, psychology, mental health and physiotherapy.

For many women, timely, affordable and safe sexual and reproductive healthcare can be difficult to access depending on where they live, which is why these scholarships are critical to ensure care is delivered when and where they need it.

The new women’s health clinics are making a real difference in regional Victoria too – where some women’s health services like abortion care, have previously been inaccessible.

For more information or to apply for a scholarship, visit health.vic.gov.au/womens-health-and-wellbeing-program/about-the-program.