The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is a major national agency established by the Australian Government as an independent statutory agency in the Health and Ageing portfolio to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare.
The AIHW, as custodian of major national data collections, is committed to providing high quality, national data and analysis across the health, housing and community services sectors, presented in meaningful and relevant ways and delivered in a timely manner. This data and analysis supports an increased understanding of health and welfare issues and is critical to good policy making and effective service delivery, both of which can have a direct impact on the lives of Australians. The AIHW's statistics and information also play an important part in informing community discussion on health, housing and community services matters.
Effective national health and welfare data development undertaken by the AIHW will improve this capacity into the future.
Mission
(during 2010–11)
Better information and statistics for better health and wellbeing
Strategic directions
(during 2010–11)
SD1 Strengthening our policy relevance
SD2 Capitalising on the new information environment
SD3 Enhancing data access, protecting privacy
SD4 Getting the messages out better
SD5 Our people—valued, expert and versatile
Values
Australian Public Service values—being apolitical, accountable, sensitive and fair, with the highest quality ethics and leadership
Objectivity—ensuring our work is objective, impartial and reflects our mission
Responsiveness—meeting the needs of those who supply or use our information
Accessibility—making information as accessible as possible
Privacy—safeguarding the personal and collective privacy of both information subjects and data providers
Expertise—applying specialised knowledge and high standards to our work
Innovation—showing curiosity, creativity and resourcefulness in what we do
At the end of June 2011, the AIHW Board agreed a new mission statement and revised strategic directions. The AIHW will report performance against these revised strategic directions in its 2011–12 annual report.