Health inequalities: Harnessing data and data linkage to bridge the gaps

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Abstract There is a complex interplay between health and welfare, where social factors such as an individual's education, employment, and relationships can impact their overall health, and vice versa. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is a national body that monitors the health of Australians including the social determinants and the distribution of health across populations. Where inequalities are observed, it investigates, where possible, the contributing factors. The AIHW is uniquely placed to address data gaps in inequalities, with a remit to monitor both health and welfare outcomes of Australians, access to a range of data and established relationships with national and jurisdictional governments. The AIHW reports against national frameworks such as the National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions. A variety of information sources are used. These include health surveys and administrative data on mortality and hospitalisations to estimate inequalities using standardised area based indices of socioeconomic status. The AIHW creates products to suit different audiences such as policy makers, researchers and the general public. These include reports, interactive web visualisations and fact sheets. AIHW research into mortality inequalities has consistently found that substantial mortality inequalities exist in the Australian population, particularly amongst those from areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. In 2016, if all Australians had the same cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rate as people in the highest socioeconomic areas, there would have been 8,600 fewer deaths. In recent times data linkage has increasingly been used to link health and social data to provide a broader understanding of the associations between social determinants and health and the health experiences of priority population groups. This presentation will give an overview of current monitoring efforts in Australia, and provide examples of methods used and current work in this area.