Enhanced Reporting on 'Closing the Gap' Targets
This Northern Territory based project will improve the ability to access and use NT Birth and Death data. It is a Commonwealth Government of Australia funded project, through the Department for Industry, Innovation Science and Research (DIISR) Population Health Research Network Education Investment Fund Super Science Initiative (PHRN EIF-SSI).
This PHRN EIF-SSI funded project runs in 2011-12 and 2012-13 and will deliver the ability to securely share NT Birth and Death data within the Northern Territory Government and for ethics approved Research and Policy Analysis, through the PHRN Data Linkage Infrastructure.
The detailed planning for the project occured in 2011, with the project in Delivery Phase 1 in 2012. The following information is from the Project Plan approved at the Project Steering Committee meeting held in Darwin on 21st September 2011.
Project Objectives
This project is aiming to establish better access to Death and Births data in the Northern Territory, and have an improved utilisation of these datasets. This will promote improved performance assessment and evaluation capability across a number of national agreements and national partnerships that underpin the 'Closing the Gap' agenda for government agencies and relevant data to be accessible also to the research community in an open and timely way.
Project Scope
The project will enable Government agencies and Australian researchers easy yet secure access to linked de-identified data for more accurate, population wide, statistical data for research and analysis purposes.
Furthermore, it will facilitate the ability to carry out high impact research and thereby drive changes in health and human services research and enhance the ability of policy-makers to acheive better evidence-based outcomes for the Australian community.
Project Governance
The Project Steering Committee is chaired by the A/Director of the Health Gains Planning Unit at the NT Department of Health, with representation from the NT Treasury, NT Department of the Chief Minister, NT Registrar-General (Births Deaths and Marriages) and SA NT DataLink.
This project is administered and managed on behalf of the Northern Territory Government by SA NT DataLink, with the Terms of Reference for the Project Steering Committee and Project Status Reports provided for approval through the SA NT DataLink Steering Committee, who perform a Program Governance role on behalf of the Population Health Research Network (PHRN) and Australian Government Department for Industry Innovation Science and Research (DIISR).
For more information, please contact Chris Radbone, Associate Director SA NT DataLink, chris.radbone@unisa.edu.au