Projects that engage the community to make healthier decisions and encourage children to eat healthier have been awarded the top prizes in the 2019 Minister for Health and Wellbeing's Public Health Excellence Awards.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Stephen Wade said the awards are a great opportunity to showcase public health initiatives across South Australia.
"Local councils are often making significant contributions to public health through a range of unique initiatives," Minister Wade said.
"These awards are a great opportunity to share ideas and encourage rolling out further initiatives across the state.
"The awards celebrate the fantastic work that has been done and the work that councils continue to do to improve the health and wellbeing of all South Australians.
The City of Playford won the metropolitan award for their Elizabeth Grove Place Based Community Development Project, which is aimed at increasing engagement between the council and the community.
The project involved asking the local community to get involved and choose three initiatives aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of families in the area, including a sports equipment library, community fruit trees and a laneway featuring public art.
The regional winner was Mid Murray Council for their innovative Fresh Frenzy Program; a response to local school children consuming an unhealthy amount of packaged wrapper foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat.
Fresh Frenzy educated young children about the benefits of eating fresh, unprocessed foods. As a result, 67 per cent of students reported eating healthier at school and that they consumed half the number of wrapper foods compared to before the program began.
Councils highly commended for their initiatives include the City of Onkaparinga for their Hoarding and Squalor initiative, City of Burnside for their Urban Forest Interactive Project and Wattle Range Council for their Celebrate Seniors October Program.
Award winners in the regional and metropolitan category each received $3,000 to encourage the continual development of public health initiatives in their local council area.
A full list of award recipients is available here.
