Independent Review of Australia’s COVID Response submission

COVID-19 has had a major impact on global health, with governments and healthcare systems under enormous pressure to contain and mitigate the infection rate and treat those affected.

Your Community Health’s submission to this review, looks at what worked well and what could have been improved in relation to Australia’s COVID-19 response. The pandemic exacerbated existing health and wellbeing inequities, seeing the people that experience disadvantage and barriers to healthcare most impacted. Based on Your Community Health’s learnings, our submission recommends the following to better prepare for the next public health emergency or pandemic:

• Investment in community-led and local health interventions to ensure the planning, implementation and communication of public health measures are culturally appropriate and targeted
• A long term solution to address the social determinants of health
• Government support and funding for community services to maintain newly formed relationships with hard-to-reach communities, to minimise health inequities