Women’s Health Products Working Group meeting #3, 27 March 2023

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) hosted the third meeting of the Women’s Health Products Working Group on 27 March 2023. The Working Group is comprised of representatives from consumer groups, health professionals, industry and academia together with senior officials from the Department of Health and Aged Care.

The following topics were presented:

• COVID-19 Vaccination Program in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.  A central issue in the success of the program was focussing on strengthening appropriate communication for health messaging, e.g. crisis communication during the pandemic. The discussion also included an update on the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program and the COVID-19 small grants program. 
• Access to women’s health products in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to provide culturally safe and accessible services including cervical screening, breast screening, contraception and sanitary products. 
• Therapeutic Goods Advertising Codes and the impact of social media and misinformation; how the TGA assists in the lawful advertising of Therapeutic Goods, and updates on recent projects including advertising of melanotan, weight loss and nicotine vaping products.

Members also discussed progress of and application to implement changes to medical abortion access and how the TGA could frequently share information on trends, outcomes, and other information relating to women’s health with a focus on the importance of inclusion and health literacy.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held in Canberra on 31 July 2023.