Australian Health Inequities Program

Fran Baum

The Australian Health Inequities Program (AHIP) continued in 2007 with $2.4 million of funding over five years from NHMRC. AHIP brings together researchers from a range of disciplines including public health, labour market economics, housing and geography, to address health inequities and analyse policy and program strategies that aim to reduce them. AHIP is headed by Professor Fran Baum, Department of Public Health (Flinders University) and also involves Professor Anne Kavanagh, Director of the Key Centre for Women's Health (University of Melbourne), Professor Andrew Beer in the School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management (Flinders University) and Professor Sue Richardson, Director of the National Institute of Labour Studies (Flinders University), along with five team investigators from these departments. Links with AHIP are beneficial to SACHRU in that it enables the Unit to keep up on the latest thinking in health inequities research.

Health inequities remain a significant feature of Australia's health profile. In 2007, AHIP chief and team investigators continued to work on, and publish, in relation to the impacts on health and wellbeing of housing, employment, social connections, social inclusion, the places people live in, and perceptions of the local environment. SACHRU researchers have been involved in AHIP discussions about establishing an Australian Health Equity Network, and worked with AHIP on a case study report of South Australia's Social Inclusion Initiative. The annual AHIP retreats which SACHRU researchers attend contribute to debates about what level of inequities are acceptable in a country such as Australia and, most importantly, provide guidance to government, service providers and community groups about how to improve the quality of people's local environments and reduce the health differences between different groups of Australians.