About

The Atlas of Environmental Health was developed by Gaia Resources for the Environmental Health Directorate’s Aboriginal Environmental Health Program, Department of Health.

The Aboriginal Environmental Health Program (AEHP) is a program managed by the Science and Policy Unit of the Environmental Health Directorate which is part of the Department of Health’s Public Health Division. The AEHP is concerned with:

• improving and maintaining the environmental health standards in Aboriginal communities; and
• reducing the adverse health outcomes from exposure to risks in the environments where people live.

It does this by doing a range of things such as working with its health and non-health partnering agencies and supporting and managing a range of service agreements with more than 20 contractors around the state for the delivery of environmental health services into WA’s regional and remote Aboriginal communities. The program, its partners and the funded services are about achieving the following related health outcomes:

• improved access to safer drinking water,
• improved disposal of wastewater,
• reduced exposure to waste water risks,
• reduced emergency waste water maintenance requests,
• improved disposal of household and community waste and improved management of landfill sites through recycling, and reduced exposure to landfill waste sites,
• improved levels of building maintenance in residential buildings,
• improved siting of new buildings and improved environmental health conditions,
• reduced electrical power service interruptions, improved levels of maintenance and safety of all electrical infrastructure and equipment,
• reduced exposure to animal related risks,
• improved access to secure and safe food supply and food handling,
• reduced exposure to pests and mosquito health risks and access to suitable products to reduce the threat from pests,
• improved dust control measures, and
• adoption of Healthy Living Practices.