Skip to main content

Aboriginal Health Topics and Resources

Please see below for more information specific to Aboriginal health.

Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia

The Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (ACHWA) is the peak body for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in Western Australia. We exist to support and act on behalf of our 23 Member ACCHS throughout WA, actively responding to the individual and collective needs of our Members.

Governed by an Aboriginal Board of Directors who represent all regions in Western Australia, AHCWA aims to promote and strengthen the ACCHS model of care. A model that is built around the delivery of comprehensive, holistic, and culturally secure primary health care services.  View more information on the website.

MAPPA

Mappa is a free-to-use online mapping platform developed by the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (AHCWA) and its 23 Members Services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS).

Mappa provides provides comprehensive, culturally appropriate and reliable information for WA health services, patients and their communities. Mappa shows health services in metro, regional and remote areas including their:

• Facilities
• Visiting specialists and allied health professionals
• Mobile bus clinics (location, dates, how to book), and more!

Mappa is custom made for the WA health industry and is designed to help Aboriginal people, health professionals, and the public. The service information displayed on the Mappa website is all publically available information – there are no private details or patient information. Mappa aims to remove the systemic barriers to enable Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to receive adequate healthcare closer to home, with family and on country where possible.

Access Mappa here

Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status

Published by Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, the Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status aims to provide a comprehensive outline of the most recent indicators of the health and current health status of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The initial sections of the Overview provide information about the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, social determinants, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and measures of population health status including births, mortality and hospitalisation.

View more information on the website.

Aboriginal Interpreting WA

AIWA is committed to bringing two – way understanding to interactions between WA Aboriginal language speakers and those responsible for delivering services across all fields of government and community services.

This is achieved through advocacy, development of policy and procedures, interpreting, translating and training including service user awareness and interpreter’s skills and knowledge.

AIWA has offices in Perth and Broome, partnering support organisations across the state, and over 100 registered, trained and supported interpreters based in towns and communities across WA. View more information on the website.

FISH – Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health

FISH was originally established to address the severe housing crisis in Indigenous communities throughout Australia. Acknowledging Aboriginal people have a living spiritual, cultural, familial and social connection with country, FISH now seeks to bring healing to the spirit, heart, mind, body and land to help create healthy people and communities. They aim to develop sustainable health through community based programmes providing learning experiences in life skills, personal development, and creative initiatives. View more information on the website.

The LIME Network

The LIME Network is a dynamic network dedicated to ensuring the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning of Indigenous health in medical education, as well as best practice in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous medical students and trainees.

We do this through establishing a continuing bi-national presence that encourages and supports collaboration within and between medical education institutions in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand and by building linkages with local Indigenous communities and with other health science sectors. View more information on the website.

Lowitja Institute

The Lowitja Institute is Australia’s national institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research, named in honour of our Patron, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG. We are an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation working for the health and wellbeing of Australia’s First Peoples through high impact quality research, knowledge translation, and by supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers.  View more information on the website.

Menzies School of Health Research

For over 30 years, the Menzies School of Health Research has been a beacon for development, sustainability, health improvement, economic advancement and transformation.    As Australia’s leading medical research institute dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, and a leader in global and tropical research into life-threatening illnesses, Menzies continues to translate its research into effective partnerships and programs in communities across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.  View more information on the website.

NATISHWA

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association (NATISHWA) is the peak body for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners in Australia. It was established in 2009, following the Australian Government’s announcement of funding to strengthen the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce as part of its ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative.  View more information on the website.

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

For over 20 years, the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet has provided support to those working in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector by making research and other knowledge readily accessible. In this way, we contribute to closing the gap in health between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. The HealthInfoNet is headed up by Director Professor Neil Drew and includes a team of researchers, librarians, IT specialists, business management, organisational and marketing and administrative experts.

We are a Level II Research Centre within Edith Cowan University (ECU), Western Australia’s oldest tertiary education institution and newest university. Awarded university status in 1991, ECU is a large multi-campus institution serving communities in WA and a significant cohort of international students. The HealthInfoNet is housed within Kurongkurl Katitjin, the ECU Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research.