There are a number of initiatives that are particularly important for the Division
in the next few years.

We will be promoting the benefits of a new Public Health Act to replace the current Health Act 1911.

Successful implementation of the COAG National Partnership Agreement on Preventative Health will help stem the rise in risk factors for chronic disease.

We will continue to plan and respond to seasonal and pandemic influenza. In 2009, the Division received the Director General’s Award in the Healthy WA Awards for the public health response to the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza outbreak.

We will also develop improved methods for monitoring adverse events following immunisation.

We are committed to contributing to Closing the Gap in Aboriginal Health via various initiatives including:

• addressing environmental health and food security issues in remote areas
• improving immunisation outcomes
• strengthening sexual health programs
• contributing to tobacco control and injury and chronic disease prevention
• delivering regional health profiles
• quality data to measure the gap in health outcomes

We are developing our spatial information capabilities as application of this new technology promises benefits in many areas of health, from environmental health to disaster management and into the clinical arena. In 2009, we were partners in a successful bid for a Cooperative Research Centre in Spatial Information. The WA Department of Health has received two WA Spatial Excellence Awards - for the Esperance Lead Information Portal in 2009 and for HealthTracks (a web-based mapping tool) in 2010.

We will continue to utilise our world class data linkage system, which is the best in Australia, to deliver high quality research outputs, and inform the development of an improved national system.

We will integrate advances in genomics into health policy, best practice antenatal and postnatal screening, and genetic services more generally.