Health in all policies for rural and remote health: A role for Australian local governments?

Abstract

AbstractThe role of local government in improving public health has been given legislative recognition in some Australian states. There is growing evidence of the positive role this statutory recognition has given to align local government efforts with state government health policy. Health in All Policies (HiAP) is a comprehensive approach to integrating public health, promoting components into a range of traditional local policies such as those relating to housing, transport and water. While much of the work internationally in HiAP has focused on urban populations, we argue that there are opportunities for rural and remote Australian local governments to use HiAP to respond to disparities in health outcomes amongst rural and remote Australian communities. We examine the Australian experiences with HiAP, the role for local governments and the future challenges and opportunities around the use of a HiAP approach to improve community health outcomes in rural and remote Australian communities.