World Health Organization

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is a designated World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. The Australian Collaborating Centre assists the WHO with their efforts to support national and international health information systems, statistics and evidence. The collaborating centre is part of a network of collaborating centres that contribute the development, dissemination, maintenance and use of products that help categorise concepts in health and the health system.

WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC)

The three core products that network is responsible called reference classifications and cover seven areas: diseases, health problems, body function, body structure, activity, participation and interventions.

The Network also look after other classifications that are either based on (derived classifications) or separate to (related classifications) these three reference classifications. Together, the classifications are known as the Family of International Classifications and the network of collaborating centres is known as the WHO-FIC Network.

These products are used in different ways across different countries. Tables 1, 2 and 3 below describe how the different classifications of the WHO-FIC Network are used in Australia.

Table 1. Reference classifications and their use in Australia

Reference classifications Classifications that cover the main areas of health and the health system. These classifications are maintained by the WHO.
Name and link	Subject area	Use in Australia
ICD International Classification of Diseases ICD-10 2016 (current) ICD-11	Diseases Health problems Body structures	Mortality statistics (cause of death)
ICF International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health ICF 2017 (current)	Body function Disability Activity Participation Environmental health	Population surveys Measuring health and disability
ICHI International Classification of Health Interventions ICHI Beta-2 2018	Interventions Procedures	Classification under development, not used in Australia

 

Table 2. Derived classifications and their use in Australia

There are a number of derived classifications in the WHO-FIC. Only the ones in use in Australia are shown in Table 2.

Derived classifications Classifications that are based on one or more reference classifications. These classifications are maintained by the WHO.
Name and link	Subject area	Use in Australia
ICD-10-AM International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems, Australian Modification ICD-10-AM 10th edition (current)	Diseases Health problems Body structures	Morbidity statistics (disease)
ICD-O International Classification of Oncology ICD-O-3	Oncology	Cancer registry Cancer reporting
ICD Mental Health ICD Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Diagnostic Criteria for Research ICD-10 : DCR-10 (file download)	Mental Health	No official implementation
ICD-NA Application of the International Classification of Diseases to Neurology ICD-10-NA (file download)	Neurology	No official implementation
ICD-DA Application of the International Classification of Diseases to Dentistry and Stomatology ICD-DA (3rd edition)	Dentistry Oral health	No official implementation

Table 3. Related classifications and their use in Australia.

Related classifications Classifications that describe important aspects of health or the health system, and not covered by the reference or derived classifications.
Name and link	Subject area	Use in Australia
ICPC International Classification of Primary Care ICPC-2 Maintained by: Wonca International Classification Committee (WICC) ICPC-2 PLUS Maintained by: Family Medicine Research Centre (FMRC)	Primary care General practice	Electronic health records
ICECI International Classification of External Causes of Injury ICECI Maintained by: ICECI Coordination and Maintenance Group.	External causes	Injury surveillance National Coronial Information System
ATC-DDD Anatomical, Therapeutic, Chemical classification system with Daily Defined Doses ICD-10-NA (file download) Maintained by: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology	Therapeutic drugs	Drug utilisation research
ISO 9999 Technical aids for persons with disabilities ISO 9999:2016 Maintained by: International Organization for Standardization	Technical aids	Disability services data collection
ICNP International Classification for Nursing Practice ICNP Maintained by: International Council of Nurses	Nursing practice

 

Table 4. Australian classifications

Australian classifications These classifications are maintained by the Australian Consortium for Classification Development (ACCD) and are governed by the rules set out in the Australian Coding Standards (ACS) volume of the ICD-10-AM/ACHI/ACS classification system.
Name and link	Subject area	Initially derived from
ICD-10-AM International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems, Australian Modification ICD-10-AM 10th edition (current)	Diseases Health problems Body structures	ICD-10
ACHI Australian Classification of Health Interventions ACHI 10th edition (current)	Interventions Procedures	Medicare Benefits Schedule

WHO-FIC committee and reference groups

A number of experts from the different collaborating centres, including those from the Australian Collaborating Centre, sit on committees to work on an area of the Network’s work plan. The current WHO-FIC Committees are:

• Education and Implementation Committee (EIC)
• Family Development Committee (FDC)
• Informatics and Terminology Committee (ITC)
• Classification and Statistics Advisory Committee (CSAC)

The reference groups allow the Network to provide for more technical discussions and participation by a wider range of experts and interested parties. The current WHO-FIC Reference Groups are:

• Functioning and Disability Reference Group (FDRG)
• Morbidity Reference Group (MbRG)
• Mortality Reference Group (MRG)

Further details of the Australian Collaborating Centre

The Australian Collaborating Centre was originally designated by the WHO in 1991 and has successfully been redesignated since. The current head of the collaborating centre is Jenny Hargreaves, Senior Executive of the AIHW’s Hospitals, Resourcing and Classifications Group.

Members and observers from the Australian Collaborating Centres that sit on the various committee and reference groups can be found on the WHO Website under Committees & Reference Groups.

For further information on the work of the WHO-FIC Network or the Australian Collaborating Centre please contact the secretariat:

Further information

Postal address	Secretariat,  Australian WHO-FIC Collaborating Centre PO Box 570 Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone Facsimile	(02) 6244 1000 (International callers, please use +61 2 6244 1000) (02) 6244 1299
Email address	[email protected]