An Edith Cowan University professor’s 20-year dedication to addressing Aboriginal health issues has culminated in the launch today of a comprehensive, timely and robust website – the first of its kind in the world.

The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, developed by Professor Neil Thomson and staff at the University’s School of Nursing and Public Health, provides for the dissemination and exchange of information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, researchers, academics, policy makers, Government agencies, students and the wider community.

The website has been redeveloped from an earlier site, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Clearinghouse, originally published on the web in 1997 as a small one-page site. The earlier site expanded dramatically, becoming too content-rich for the original architecture. The new site uses advanced web technologies to provide for superior navigation, a powerful search engine and greater ease of updating.

Its major features include:

• Hosting of the electronic publication, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Bulletin
• A searchable bibliographic database (ATSIHealth) of around 5,000 items
• The latest research, conferences and courses
• Contacts, noticeboard, listserver for the transfer of e-mail to subscribers
• Links to Government and non-government organisations, research organisations, Aboriginal medical services and other bodies

"The website aims to tackle the alarming statistics on Aboriginal health through this dynamic online medium," said ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Millicent Poole. "The project brings together the learning disciplines of technology, health, humanities and social sciences."

The website is supported by the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. Its quality was recently acknowledged in the Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee of Family and Community Affairs.

Dr Michael Wooldridge, Minister for Health and Aged Care, officially launched the website via video linkup from Canberra.

"The HealthInfoNet is a truly innovative way, even by international standards, ofcontributing to improving the health of Australia's Indigenous people by making relevant, high quality information easily accessible to policy makers, service providers, researchers, students and the general community", Dr Wooldridge said. "I congratulate Professor Neil Thomson and his team from Edith Cowan University and all those involved in this important and worthwhile initiative".