Palmerston has become the first Northern Territory Council to receive a Healthy Community Grant.
Located just 20 kilometres from Darwin and the fastest growing city in the Territory, Council will put the grant towards ongoing support for its Safe Communities Program.
Safe Communities is a community based approach to injury prevention and safety promotion. In March 2008, the World Health Organisation recognised Palmerston as an International Safe Community.
The program comprises the following areas:
- Alcohol Management Reference Group – promotes responsible consumption of
alcohol - Child Safety Working Group – aims
to reduce the number of children under 15 needing treatment for injuries - ActivateNT/PalmLessTonnes – encourages
people to make healthy and positive changes
in their life, eating better and exercising - Personal and Social Safety Working Group – improves safety and minimises violence
and its associated impacts in Palmerston - Palmerston Safe Schools – enhances the
social, cultural, environmental and
personal wellbeing at all schools - Monitoring and Evaluation – provides
support and guidance on ways to collect
data and evaluate the effectiveness of the
Safe Communities network.
Council intends to use the grant to continue to focus on a number of issues in the community, which it believes put the community at high risk, such as chronic disease, alcohol consumption and the high rate of smoking compared with other states.
