Strengthening partnership on Data for Health

Today I met former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to announce Australia will strengthen its partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies on the Data for Health Initiative.

Data for Health, launched in 2015, is helping 19 countries collect more accurate and complete health data as the basis for more effective public health policy.

The Australian Government will contribute a further $4 million to this initiative bringing Australia's total investment to $24 million.

The funding will help our bilateral partner countries in the Indo-Pacific region including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia and Myanmar to capture and use health data to improve the lives of their people.

During its first two years, Data for Health has already enabled partner countries to modernise public health systems by adopting international standards for death certificates, improving autopsy procedures in rural areas and using mobile phone surveys to capture health risk factors.

Australia's partnership on Data for Health is administered through innovationXchange, within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. InnovationXchange was established in March 2015 to form new partnerships and identify innovative approaches to improve the effectiveness and impact of the Australian aid program.