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• Contributing to improved health literacy, access and navigation of the health system

  • Health literacy is "about how people understand information about health and health care, and how they apply that information to their lives, use it to make decisions and act on it." - Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care​

  • Low health literacy means poor health outcomes; higher hospital readmission, poorer understanding of medication instructions, less ability to self-manage healthcare, lower engagement with preventative health services (e.g. cancer screening)

  • HOW Champion improves health literacy:

    • Engaging the community (represented consumers) to engage the broader community - improving individual health literacy

    • Engaging consumers who access health services in co-designing and advising on policies, processes and resources used by the health system - improving the health literacy environment

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• Reduced ableism

  • ​Ableism is the discrimination of people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior, rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Ableism includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalisations of people with disabilities - see a great blog about it here. 

  • Rates of ableism in Australia are high - for example, in 2018-19 44% of complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission were about discrimination based on disability. This is significantly higher than discrimination complaints based on sex (25%), race (16%) and age (7%). 

  • HOW Champion reduces ableism:

    • Seeks out opportunities for people with disabilities and their carers to engage with stakeholders to advise on how to make their services, education, products, events etc more accessible, understand how to implement appropriate accommodations for people with disabilities to improve equity, and ensure that ableist constructs are dissembled​

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• Improved social and economic participation for people with illness (improved social determinants of health)

  • People with disabilities and chronic illness have lower rates of social and community participation due to segregated education and employment settings, lower employment rates and community attitudes (Vic Health). ​

  • Australia ranks lowest among OECD countries for the relative income of people with disabilities 

  • Low social and economic participation leads to poor health outcomes therefore poorer quality of life and higher healthcare spending 

  • HOW Champion improved social and economic participation for people with illness:

    • Illness can cause great disruption to education and lack of education may limit job opportunities and not having a job may limit opportunities for social connection. Champion builds and advocates for financial value and acknowledgement of the expertise of 'lived experience' (cannot be bought or taught) and provides pathways for this to be used in a professional way for the betterment of health systems and society 

    • Champion creates a community among the people that we represent, and fosters social participation and inclusion within our agency, as well as facilitating social participation for our consumers when meaningfully engaging with stakeholders across Australia

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• Amplify the benefits of Consumer Engagement
  • Improve experiences of care (associated with improved health outcomes)​
  • Increase quality of services
  • Produce health information that is understandable and meets the needs of consumers
  • Lower risks of post-treatment complications, and reduce unnecessary hospital and medical visits 
  • Create more responsive services to consumer needs and better health outcomes
  • Ensure more accessible and equitable services ​​​