About the initiative
Primary Health Care Activity is part of the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme (IAHP). It provides grants to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can access effective health care, wherever they live. The grants support organisations, including Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs), to deliver the services their community needs.
Why it is important
Access to health services is important for good health, especially primary health care, which is often the first point of contact with the health system.
But many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not access health care when they need it. Reasons include a lack of understanding of the system, previous bad experiences, or language and cultural barriers.
Goals
Primary Health Care Activity aims to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by:
- improving access to high-quality health care services
- improving health and life expectancy
- preventing disease and hospitalisation
- reducing child mortality
- improving infrastructure to enable organisations to deliver high-quality health care.
Meeting our goals
Grants fund many types of services and programs to improve health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This includes:
- clinical services – including to treat and manage acute illnesses and chronic conditions, emergency care, eye and ear treatment, and health crisis intervention and referral
- population health programs – including vaccination, care for mothers and babies, screening programs, or health promotion
- organisational and clinical support services – including to strengthen partnerships, improve reporting or quality of services, buy equipment, or upgrade infrastructure.
Who we work with
The program provides grants to:
- health care organisations, including ACCHSs
- state and territory governments
- other health care service providers.
Apply for funding
When grant funding opportunities become available, we publish them on GrantConnect.
Learn more
Primary Health Care Activity grant program guidelines
Contact
