Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sexual Health Surveillance Network

Overview

The Fifth National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy 2018-2022 recognises that BBV and STI disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across settings, communities and sub-populations. It identifies the various factors, barriers and challenges that contribute to this increase and highlights the importance of improved data collections and systems to support a more comprehensive understanding of BBV and STI among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. The main source of information on BBV and STI among the Australian population comes from routine clinical notification data through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The NNDSS system however leaves major gaps in the understanding of epidemics, especially among priority populations like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. These gaps draw attention to the need for supplementary data that contributes to improved understanding of epidemics, impact of interventions and health care delivery against clinical guidelines. The objective of the ATLAS surveillance network is to strengthen the evidence base regarding BBV’s and STI’s in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, by undertaking broad surveillance and data collection activities in those communities to supplement the NNDSS. This information will be used by the Department and participating Aboriginal health services to report on, and support the achievement of, the goals and targets identified in the Indigenous BBV and STI Strategy. This closed, non-competitive grant opportunity will run over two financial years (2020-21 to 2021-22), and is directed at further expansion, maintenance and integration of the ATLAS network with the aim of making ATLAS an integral component of Australia’s public health surveillance system.