The Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, often known by its acronym OATSIH, was a division of the Australian Government's

Department of Health and Ageing The Australian Federal Department of Health and Ageing was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and September 2013. The department was created after the 2001 federal election from the Department of ...

. It was set up in 1994 in the then Department of Human Services and Health to give a greater focus on the health needs of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

in mainstream health programs. On 1 July 1995, following a Government decision to transfer responsibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health from the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting ...

(ATSIC) to the Health portfolio, the Office assumed responsibility for providing funding to Aboriginal community controlled health and substance misuse services previously administered by ATSIC. The long-term strategy of the Office was to improve the access of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped ...

peoples to comprehensive

primary health care Primary health care, or PHC, refers to "essential health care" that is based on scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology. This makes universal health care accessible to all individuals and families in a community. PHC in ...

services. The aim is to provide coordinated clinical care,

population health Population health has been defined as "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group". It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population. It ha ...

and

health promotion Health promotion is, as stated in the 1986 World Health Organization (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, the "process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health." Scope The WHO's 1986 Ottawa Charter for Healt ...

activities to facilitate illness prevention, early intervention and effective disease management.

Successor

At some time before 2019, this division was subsumed into the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

, which funds programs to help meet the targets of the

Closing the Gap The Closing the Gap framework is an Australian government strategy that aims to reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, based on seven targets. From adoption in 2008, after meetings with the Close the Gap social ...

strategy.

References

{{reflist Defunct Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Indigenous health organisations based in Australia Indigenous Australian politics 1994 establishments in Australia Public policy in Australia