This World Health Day, the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) calls on all political parties and Federal Election candidates to commit to ending the significant health gaps faced by rural women, especially when it comes to maternity services and postnatal health.
The health of mothers and babies is the foundation of healthy families and rural communities and is the theme of 2025's World Health Day.
Women in rural, regional and remote Australia face significant health disparities compared to their urban counterparts, influenced by geographic isolation, limited healthcare access, cost of service delivery, ongoing underfunding and support, and socioeconomic challenges. One-third of Australian women live in rural, regional and remote areas. The challenges they face when accessing maternity and reproductive health care have become a critical concern.
"Since the 1990s, there has been about 50 per cent reduction in service delivery for maternity services in rural Australia. This results from rising private health and clinical insurance, lack of investment in infrastructure and support and the workforce being overworked and under-supported.
"Women in rural areas lack birthing services, as well as antenatal and postnatal care close to home. They also find difficulties when their local rural hospital does not offer a maternity service and they have to travel great distances away from work, community and family. This reduction of services often leads to reduced services in other parts of the hospital too, making it less attractive for clinicians to work there – exacerbating a cycle of workforce shortages and limitations on health care in the area," said NRHA Chief Executive Susi Tegen.
When a town has a maternity service, the area is more attractive for young families and with a better care service on offer, people are more likely to stay or move to the area which is good for the thriving local economies and businesses.
Socioeconomic challenges in rural Australia have led women to have worse health outcomes than those in cities. Expectant mothers living in Very Remote areas are 5.5 times more likely to smoke during pregnancy than expectant mothers in Major Cities. The health of rural mothers and babies, over their lifetime, is negatively impacted by more women smoking during pregnancy, more babies being born prematurely, and lower rates of exclusive breastfeeding, with very few preventative health initiatives being the norm. Rural and remote women are also more likely to experience domestic and family violence, and have higher rates of unplanned pregnancies, infant mortalities, and low birthweights and preterm babies.
"During this election period, we call on all parties and candidates to make the health of rural women a priority. We can no longer stand on the sidelines and take a 'wait and see' approach when rural women die up to 12.7 years earlier than their city counterparts.
"We call for equitable and separate funding under a National Rural Health Strategy which demonstrates Federal and State /Territory healthcare collaboration and delivery, access to equitable funding and a commitment to separating rural health funding out of urban health funding. A rural health fund allows for transparency, equity and parity and cannot be reabsorbed into urban expenditure.
In addition, we ask for infrastructure funding under the National Rural Health Strategy to cover clinician accommodation, health student housing, childcare and outreach clinics infrastructure to meet population health and workforce needs.
Considering the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of rural women, they deserve a fair share of the funding to improve their health, as well as the health of generations to come," Ms Tegen concluded.
About us:
The National Rural Health Alliance (the Alliance) comprises 53 national organisations committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the over 7 million people in rural and remote Australia. Our diverse membership includes representation from health professional organisations, health service providers, health educators, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector and students.
