The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has a role in information sharing with a number of international organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We also have informal collaborative arrangements with other international agencies and bodies, such as the International Group for Indigenous Health Measurement.

The Australian Collaborating Centre

The WHO is supported by a number of Collaborating Centres both within Australia and internationally which assist them to progress its specific programmes of work. 

Since 1991, the AIHW has been designated as the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Family of International Classifications Australia (ACC). The ACC is one of more than 20 international collaborating centres that assists WHO in its work to develop, implement and maintain the Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC). The WHO-FIC is the framework which allows the capture of health, functioning and intervention (procedures) data from countries around the world. 

Australia has an obligation to supply health and health-related data to WHO and the AIHW is often involved in data supply. These data serve many purposes, including health monitoring, service planning and research. Australia benefits from this in that it allows for international comparisons of health, which helps to identify opportunities for preventative action and health system improvement. 

More information on the ACC and its role

More information on the classifications from WHO-FIC

ICD-11 implementation in Australia 

The ACC is contributing to the development of the International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision (ICD-11). ICD-11 was endorsed by member states at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2019. ICD-11 will come into effect from 1 January 2022. Each member state will make its own decisions about adoption and timing of implementation. Australia has not yet made a decision to implement ICD-11. The AIHW is leading the planning work to determine this. 

More information on ICD-11 in Australia

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The OECD’s online database, OECD Health Data, is the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across industrialised countries. The database contains information on health status, health care services and health care spending for member countries.

Information from OECD Health Data facilitates international comparative reporting, supports policy planning and decision making, and enables health-related research and analysis.

The AIHW supplies data for Australia for OECD Health Data. Most Australian data supplied come from databases maintained by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services. For further information, see the OECD Health Statistics online database.