Western Australian health promotion graduates will soon be able to apply for scholarships under Healthway's Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) Scholarship Program.
Over the next three years, the Healthway funding of $659,879 will go towards supporting new graduates to develop health promotion skills, on-the-job experience and career pathway opportunities.
Led by the AHPA (WA Branch), in partnership with Healthway, the program will offer up to four scholarships each year from the following categories: graduate scholarships; Aboriginal scholarships; and regional and remote scholarships.
The program seeks to grow the regional health promotion workforce, and provide rural and remote allowances to support scholarship holders to relocate if needed.
An Aboriginal Health Promotion Short Course will be available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people interested in a career in health promotion to help develop their health promotion knowledge and skills in a culturally secure way.
Since the program started in 1993 over one-third of all scholarship placements have been awarded to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Applications for scholarships will open in late September 2020.
For further information on the program, visit http://www.healthpromotionscholarshipswa.org.au
As stated by Health Minister Roger Cook:
"Building a skilful and diverse health promotion workforce, particularly in regional WA, is vital for improving health outcomes for Western Australians.
"Importantly, scholarship recipients gain on-the-job experience, and develop relationships which will benefit their future work in promoting good health in the community.
"This program has played a fantastic role in developing the careers of curious and talented Western Australians for almost 30 years.
"So it's terrific that Healthways has again made a significant grant to create more opportunities over the next three years.
"I encourage new health promotion graduates to apply for a scholarship and get a healthy start to their career."
As stated by Kimberley MLA Josie Farrer:
"I'm heartened to see that over a third of these scholarships placements to date have been provided to Aboriginal students.
"The best way to improve the cultural security of our health services is by having more Aboriginal people working in health.
"I encourage new health promotion graduates to apply for a scholarship and get a healthy start to their career."
