The ATLAS Indigenous primary care surveillance network

A desire to better explain the longstanding disparity in sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and blood-borne viruses (BBVs) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples led to the development of the ATLAS network.

ATLAS was developed in partnership with the Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) sector in five clinical hubs, spanning the Kimberley in Western Australia, Cape York in Queensland, urban Brisbane, New South Wales and South Australia. Currently 32 ACCHOs are partners in the collaboration.

ATLAS was designed to address difficulties readily accessing and analysing patient-level service data, as well as to fill gaps regarding testing, treatment and ongoing management information in the Australian National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

The ATLAS network links deidentified clinical data within and between participating sites and returns service-specific reports describing STI and BBV screening, positivity, treatment completion and outcomes to ACCHOs on a regular basis.

In the current funding period, we aim to double the number of participating ACCHOs, link with other primary care providers and add new regions to the ATLAS network. We also plan to expand the scope of the data infrastructure, to include vaccine-preventable diseases and chronic diseases.

The ATLAS network supports the capacity of ACCHOs to provide high quality, evidence-based, best practice clinical care for improved health outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

Activity to expand ATLAS and develop programs that transform clinical outcomes, while strengthening Indigenous governance and research capacity, will exponentially increase the utility and sustainability of Australia’s only comprehensive Indigenous primary care surveillance network.

Funding

Australian Government Department of Health ($910,000)