KAHPF Subcommittees
KAHPF has 10 subcommittees. While KAHPF meetings are attended by CEOs and Regional Managers, the Subcommittees and Working Groups provide a forum for the clinicians and programme managers who work at the coal face. Whilst most groups began as information-sharing and peer-support forums, many have now progressed to joint problem solving and implementing practical inter-agency projects that have had an enormous impact on health in the region. Subcommittees and working groups provide a written report to each KAHPF meeting highlighting:
Significant activities and achievements
Any new and/or significant health issues in the region
Progress with ongoing sub-committee projects and plans for any new projects
Issues/concerns that require KAHPF advice/feedback
Recommendations for KAHPF to consider/endorse
Chronic Disease Subcommittee
The four Chronic Disease conditions which produce the highest levels of morbidity and mortality for Aboriginal people in the region are renal failure, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease and diabetes. The Chronic Disease Subcommittee meets bimonthly to identify strategies to prevent and improve the management of chronic disease in the region.
Drug and Alcohol Committee
The Kimberley region experiences disproportionate levels of alcohol-related harm compared to the rest of WA. Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly used substances, with the increase in poly-drug use and the use of methyl amphetamine emerging issues. The capacity of AOD services in the region to provide prevention and early intervention services is extremely limited in most of the Kimberley. The Drug and Alcohol Committee (DAC) was established to represent a regional view of Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) issues within the Kimberley.
Environmental Health Subcommittee
The Environmental Health Subcommittee is a newer KAHP Subcommittee formed to deepen understanding across the Kimberley of the link between environmental conditions and health. An early achievement of the Subcommittee was the development and signing of the Regional Skin Health Partnership.
Terms of Reference Environmental Health Subcommittee
Environmental Health Referral Form
Environmental Health Referral Form for specific use in the Fitzroy Valley
Health Workforce Alliance
The aim of the Alliance is to get more Kimberley people ( e.g. school students, unemployed people, people who want a new career) into health training courses and/or work in the health sector – in all types of works ranging from drivers, administration staff and liaison officers to health workers, nurses, counsellors, allied health professionals and GPs.
Members include school VET Coordinators, training providers, employment support agencies and health service employers.
Kimberley Aboriginal Mental Health Subcommittee
This forum of mental health and SEWB providers has been meeting monthly since 2003. Membership includes a wide range of agencies including those providing social support and counselling through to providers of acute mental health services.
Maternal and Child Health Subcommittee
The Maternal and Child Health (M&CH) Subcommittee has been meeting on a monthly basis since 2010. It is attended by midwives, child health nurses and Aboriginal health workers from across the region.
Research Subcommittee
The Research Subcommittee was formed in late 2006 with a mandate to guide research activity in the region. It is a research review committee, not an ethics committee.
The Subcommittee aims to work constructively with prospective researchers to assist them to get the best possible local input and advice when developing proposals. For more information click here.
Sexual Health Subcommittee
The latest notification rates of Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea both remain disproportionally high amongst Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. The often asymptomatic nature of these infections assists in their spread.
The Sexual Health Subcommittee was formed to improve the sexual health, reduce STI rates and ensure better health outcomes for young people living in the Kimberley.