Potential data sources
The tables below present the data sources that were considered for the initial scoping phase of sexual and reproductive health data (by collection type and in alphabetical order).
These data sources will either be:
- included for initial analysis and reporting, or
- are currently being explored to determine their suitability for monitoring against the areas of measurement identified in the data strategies for each topic.
Tables 8 to 10 also include data sources currently under development that will be considered for future reporting once available for analysis.
Data source | Included, exploring or future | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
Future collection | Digital health record which stores a patient’s key health information. Coverage dependent on provider participation and data upload. Quality and accessibility of data still being assessed. | |
Exploring | The NCADC is a national data collection on babies with a congenital anomaly. Includes births (both live births and stillbirths) with a diagnosed congenital anomaly. Includes terminations of pregnancy due to a congenital anomaly (from 20 weeks' gestation). May under-count due to variation in diagnosis and reporting practices. | |
National Elective Surgery Waiting Times Data Collection (NESWTDC) | Included | The NESWTDC is a national administrative database which holds episode-level information on patients added to or removed from elective surgery waiting lists managed by public hospitals. Excludes private sector activity and people who do not enter waiting lists. Limited to procedures classified as elective. Does not capture most priority populations. |
National Health Expenditure Database (NHED) and Australia’s Disease Expenditure database | Exploring | The NHED stores data from the Australian National Health Account, which is derived from more than 50 data sources capturing health spending across individuals, some private sources, and governments. The Disease Expenditure Database contains estimates of expenditure by ABDS group and are derived from the NHED. Limited to diseases included in the ABDS; disease expenditure is only an indicator of the use of health system resources. Limited capacity to link spending to individual outcomes, specific populations or sexual and reproductive health conditions. |
Included | The NHMD holds data on procedures, diagnoses and stays of patients admitted to hospitals in Australia. Excludes primary care and most outpatient services. Limited to recorded diagnoses, procedures and dependent on coding quality. Does not capture most priority populations. | |
National Medicine Record (NMR) | Future | The NMR is proposed to provide a complete picture of a patient’s medicines history using existing digital health capabilities like electronic prescribing, the Active Script List and My Health Record. |
National Non-Admitted Patient Emergency Department Care Database (NNAPEDCD) | Exploring | The NNAPEDCD holds data on patients seen in the emergency department, without further admission. Limited to emergency department presentations; variable coverage and completeness across jurisdictions. |
Exploring | The NNDSS holds notification data on 70 nationally notifiable diseases. There are several notifiable diseases included that may be of relevance to the topic of pregnancy loss. These include sexually transmitted infections, gastrointestinal diseases and vaccine preventable diseases. Linked NNDSS data is not currently available. | |
Exploring | The NPDC is an administrative collection that includes data for some jurisdictions on termination of pregnancy and previous pregnancy loss. Coverage of these data items varies by jurisdiction. Does not capture most priority populations. | |
Exploring | The NPMDC holds information on stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Australia, including timing, causes, and investigations. Limited to fatal outcomes and small numbers restrict detailed analysis. | |
Exploring/ future collection | The NPHCDC (forthcoming, not yet complete) will include information collected during primary health care interactions (see Further develop existing or planned data collections for more details). The data quality and coverage are unknown at this stage. | |
Exploring | The NPHED is a national administrative database which holds information on public hospital resources including beds, staff and specialised services, revenue and recurrent expenditure. Does not include patient-level data and excludes private hospitals. | |
Exploring | The NAPUR holds episode-level data on non-admitted patient service events in public hospital outpatient clinics. Excludes private outpatient services and primary care; variations in quality and completeness across jurisdictions. | |
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) | Included | The PBS holds information on dispensing of government subsidised medicines in Australia. Excludes private prescriptions not subsidised and over-the-counter medicines. Reporting outpatient/discharge/day-only prescriptions for NSW/ACT is not available. Data on pharmacist prescribing is currently unavailable. Does not confirm if medicine was taken. Limited demographic data captured. The RPBS is subsidised by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and provides a range of pharmaceuticals and wound dressings at a concessional rate for eligible veterans, war widows/widowers and their dependants. |
Private sexual and reproductive health service and training data | Exploring | Private sexual and reproductive health service data includes service provision data from not-for-profit organisations, and from private clinics. Fragmented, not routinely collected nationally; lacks standardisation. |
Data source | Included, exploring or future | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
Included | ALSWH is a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study conducted about every 3 years. Collects geographic information and demographic information on Indigenous status, sexual orientation, disability, and CALD variables, but is not fully representative of priority populations. | |
Future collection (under development) | The A-PaM study will be a longitudinal study that aims to identify and evaluate the impacts of perimenopause and menopause on health and wellbeing (it will be codesigned with the community). Data are not yet available; scope still under development. | |
Exploring | ASHR is a nationally representative cross-sectional study of sexual health behaviours and relationships conducted about every 10 years. Collects some demographic information but is not fully representative of priority populations; latest data not yet available. | |
Australian Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health (SSASH) | Exploring | SSASH is a national survey that asks about knowledge, behaviour and educational experiences related to sexual health and wellbeing. Limited to those aged 14–18; not representative of priority populations. |
Australian Women's Midlife Years (AMY) Study | Exploring | AMY is a national cross-sectional study of women aged 40–69 years, across different stages of the menopause transition. Excludes younger populations and other genders and focuses on a specific life stage. |
Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey (ADS Survey) | Exploring | The ADS Survey collects data on attitudes towards people with disability, to support reporting on Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031. Limited information collected on sexual and reproductive health and focuses on attitudes rather than health outcomes. |
Growing up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) | Exploring | LSAC is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of Australian children and their families. Limited SRH content and participants currently represent younger adults only. |
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey | Exploring | HILDA is a household-based nationally representative longitudinal survey which includes an occasional rotating fertility module. Limited sexual and reproductive health specific content. |
Included | The NWHS is an annual cross-sectional survey with a sample of approximately 3,500 women each year. The survey focuses on a different health topic each year, reflecting current information needs. Since 2023, the NWHS has recruited nationally using representative sampling techniques and periodically collects relevant sexual and reproductive health data. It does not support time series analysis but can be used as initial/proxy data to temporarily fill critical data gaps. Collects some demographic information but is not representative of priority populations. | |
Medical Training Survey (MTS) | Exploring | The MTS is an annual national survey that collects information from doctors-in-training on their education and training experiences, including workplace culture, wellbeing and access to learning opportunities. It is not designed to capture clinical practice or service delivery in sexual and reproductive health. Response rates are quite low, further limiting use, but may be useful as a supplementary source that provides insight into capability, skills and confidence. |
Exploring | The NHMS is a nationally representative survey with biological samples taken for information on biomarkers of chronic disease and nutrition. Conducted periodically; small sample limits disaggregation of data. | |
National Health Survey (NHS) | Included | The NHS is a nationally representative household survey. It collects information on self-reported health status, long-term health conditions, health behaviours and use of health services. It can be used to estimate the prevalence of some sexual and reproductive health conditions however detail is limited, and the survey is not designed to comprehensively capture sexual and reproductive health conditions. Sample size may be too small for detailed analysis of less common conditions or disaggregation for priority populations. |
Exploring | The NHWDS includes information on the demographics and employment information for registered health practitioners in Australia, based on their Australian Health Practitioner Agency registration and a voluntary workforce survey. It supports workforce monitoring but has limited capacity to identify sexual and reproductive health specialisations or advanced training. | |
Periods, Pain and Endometriosis (PPEP talk) | Exploring | PPEP talk is a questionnaire accompanying a national endometriosis school education program. Sampling over-represents independent schools with no public schools captured in some states. Limited to participants in a specific program. Limited coverage of priority populations. |
Exploring | The SDAC is a nationally representative household survey. It collects information on people with disability, older people and carers, including data on long-term health conditions, functional limitations, need for assistance and use of support services. SDAC is the preferred data source for reporting disability prevalence. Limited sexual and reproductive health detail. |
Data source | Included, exploring or future | Brief description |
|---|---|---|
| AUSLARC trial (AUSLARC) is led by Sexual and Reproductive Health Australia, in partnership with The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners | Exploring | AUSLARC provides scholarships for Implanon and intrauterine device training to reduce financial and geographic barriers to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) training. AUSLARC trial contains training data, including post-training survey data. |
Australian and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database (ANZARD) | Exploring | ANZARD is a clinical quality registry with information on all assisted reproduction cycles in Australia and New Zealand. Limited to people who access fertility treatment; does not capture fertility experiences outside of clinical treatment. |
Exploring | Healthdirect is a national virtual health service that provides telephone and online health information. It captures data on call volumes, reported symptoms, triage outcomes and referral pathways, and can provide insights into service demand and help‑seeking behaviour, including for sexual and reproductive health. It has limited clinical information and is not designed for diagnosis or confirmed conditions. In addition, the National Health Service Directory is a national directory of health services and practitioners. | |
Jurisdictional Abortion Notification Systems (ANS) | Included | ANSs have been established in some jurisdictions. Variations in coverage, definitions, and data quality across jurisdictions. Some data requires jurisdictional approval. Limited priority populations data in some ANS. |
Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) Centres of Excellence | Exploring | Australian Government-funded services that provide contraceptive counselling, LARC insertion and removal services, and health professional training. Potential source of data on access to contraception services, service utilisation, workforce training and geographic variation in service provision. Centres were only established in 2026 and routine data collections or reporting arrangements are yet to be determined. |
Exploring | Medicare UCCs provide bulk-billed urgent care services for conditions and illnesses that are episodic and not immediately life-threatening. Limited to Commonwealth-funded clinics and focused on episodic care only. Limited historical data and excludes state-based urgent care centres and people who do not consent to their visit information being shared. UCC data are currently being explored therefore data quality and coverage are unknown at this stage. | |
Exploring | A general practice (GP) data set that contains de‑identified, patient‑level data extracted from participating general practices. It is not nationally representative as it is limited to participating clinics but may provide insights into prescribing and patient care patterns. Variations in data quality and completeness. | |
Exploring | Qendo is an application for tracking symptoms, treatment, and management of endometriosis, pelvic pain, and other related conditions. Large number of users in Australia. App-based, self-selected sample. Limited representativeness and standardisation. |
Note: other data sources may become relevant over time, such as new data collections or enhanced existing data collections, or as additional priority topics are added.