QNADA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Queensland Women’s Health Strategy Consultation Paper. We commend the intent of the development of the Queensland Women’s Health Strategy and recognise the importance of working to achieve gender equality and health equity in Queensland by advancing the rights and interests of women and girls, including those who use alcohol and other drugs (AOD).
While the majority of people who use AOD do not experience problems with their use, a proportion (11-12%) are likely to require specialist treatment. In Australia, women represent approximately 40% of the proportion of people accessing AOD treatment services. They continue to face a range of treatment access barriers due to issues such as:
- continuing treatment and harm reduction supply issues in the face of increasing demand
- fear of legal and social repercussions of service engagement
- employment and family responsibilities
- implications relating to parenting, pregnancy, and childbirth (e.g. potential for child protection involvement resulting reduced willingness to approach services for assistance).
Despite welcome increased investment into the AOD system in recent years, as well as recognition of these barriers, women remain underrepresented in treatment and strategies are required to increase accessibility.
A range of strategies and initiatives have the potential to make it easier for women to access AOD treatment when they need it. These include:
- offering free child care to women accessing AOD treatment
- expanding existing day rehabilitation program options to enable increased treatment availability during school hours
- establishing/funding dedicated programs for women
- expansion of programs that support families to stay together while a parent is undergoing residential rehabilitation (e.g. family units)
- other initiatives to reduce stigma and discrimination of woman who use AOD.
Please click here to read the full submission.