Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) - National awareness campaign for pregnancy and breastfeeding women
In 2020 FARE received funding from the Australian Government Department of Health to undertake the ‘FASD – National awareness campaign for pregnancy and breastfeeding women’ (the National Program). The development, delivery and evaluation of the National Program will run from July 2020 to June 2023.
The National Program aims to:
- Increase Australians’ awareness of the risks associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, including FASD.
- Increase the proportion of Australians who are aware that alcohol should not be consumed during pregnancy and that is it safest not to drink alcohol when breastfeeding.
- Increase the proportion of Australian women who intend to not drink any alcohol during pregnancy and when breastfeeding.
The National Program has four streams:
Stream 1: general public
Stream 2: priority groups including women at higher risk of alcohol exposed pregnancies
Stream 3: health professionals
Stream 4: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
The National Program phases
The National Program will take place over four phases:
- Discovery: The discovery phase involves the collation, critique, and review of existing resources as well as message and values testing. This will help to identify the key targets, inform messaging, and the overall approach. Baseline measures will also be determined for the evaluation.
- Development and design: The development and design phase will involve the creation of National Program assets. FARE will work with a creative agency to design and develop a communication strategy, tactics and materials that resonate with each target audience.
- Dissemination: The methods of dissemination will be different for each of the streams and will be informed by the earlier phases of the project. FARE will work with a range of stakeholders across Australia including creative agencies and media buyers.
- Discourse and discussion: This phase will bring together learnings and focuses on the collation and conclusion of initiatives across the four streams. The evaluation will also be finalised during this phase.
Meet the Steering Committee
The role of the Steering Committee is to provide oversight and expertise during the National Program’s development and implementation.
The members of the Steering Committee are:
Organisation | Representing |
National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (NOFASD) | Ms Louise Gray |
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (NACCHO) | Ms Dawn Casey |
Nunyara Aboriginal Health Unit, NSW Central Coast | Mr Steve Ella |
University of Sydney | Professor Elizabeth Elliott |
Australian College of Midwives (ACM) | (currently vacant) |
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) | Dr Hester Wilson |
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians, and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) | Dr Vijay Roach |
George Institute for Global Health | Professor Simone Pettigrew |
Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) | Ms Caterina Giorgi, Chief Executive Officer Ms Sarah Ward, National Campaign Manager |
National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (NOFASD)
NOFASD Australia is leading Stream 2 of the National Program and will develop and disseminate a suite of prevention and awareness resources specifically tailored to priority groups.
These resources will aim to:
- Increase awareness and understanding of the campaign messages among priority groups.
- Increase knowledge of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy among priority groups.
- Strengthen behavioural intentions of women in the priority groups to not consume alcohol or reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
NOFASD will also provide advice and feedback to FARE on the content and resources produced for the general public stream (Stream 1).
Meet the team
FARE has appointed a passionate and experienced team to coordinate the development and implementation of the National Program. We look forward to working collaboratively with colleagues across the country to deliver this incredibly important piece of work.
- Joanna Le, Projects and Partnerships Director
- Caterina Giorgi, FARE Chief Executive Officer
- Kamara Buchanan, Senior Projects and Partnerships Advisor
- Sarah Ward, National Health Campaign Manager
- Rosemary White, Health Campaign Advisor
- Andrea Gledhill, Health Professional Project Lead – National Health Campaign
Stay in touch
Keep up to date about the National Program by signing up to our stakeholder newsletter.
Want to know what we’ve been doing – read our latest newsletter here.
You can also contact the National Program team at:
Phone: 02 61228600
Email: nationalcampaign@fare.org.au
