The historic MenopauseMatters Parliamentary Round Table, which marked the first time menopause has been formally presented in federal Parliament, featured input from Associate Professor Erin Morton, Director of Health Data & Clinical Trials at Flinders University.

The roundtable on 7 March, led by the Australasian Menopause Society and hosted by Peta Murphy MP and Bridget Archer MP, was attended by Ministers, Senators, MPs and a consortium of experts from across the country.

Several MPs opened their offices before and after the presentation to discuss the need for a National Menopause Strategy to improve awareness, clinical training and health equity for Australians who will experience menopause in their lives.

Associate Professor Morton is also applying her experience to create an innovative consumer-driven, community-led national peri-/menopause registry named “VITAL”, the Virtual regIstry of peri-/menopause in AusTrALia.

Designed to comply with the latest Australian registry recommendations, VITAL will prioritise what the  peri-/meno community – and not just clinicians or researchers – believe is most important. VITAL will also be a platform to share data via appropriate circumstances and enable the community to have a voice in making change and translation to improve health outcomes.

With more than 200 national stakeholders from all backgrounds, VITAL will help revolutionise how Australia supports people experiencing menopause.

To support these initiatives, Associate Professor Erin Morton suggests contacting your MP and encourage them to lend their support to the National Menopause Action Plan (“National MAP”).

If you’d like to learn more about VITAL, please email vitalperimeno@flinders.edu.au.