Australian Rural Health Education Network

What does ARHEN do?

ARHEN is the peak body for Australia’s 16 University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) located in every State and the NT.

ARHEN supports UDRHs around Australia to address rural health workforce maldistribution and improve the health of some 7 million Australians who live and work outside capital cities and major metropolitan centres.

Vision:      Better health through a skilled and effective health workforce for rural and remote Australia.

Purpose:  To lead the rural and remote health agenda in education and research by advocating for UDRHs that work in partnership with communities, health organisations and tertiary institutions to increase and enhance the rural and remote health workforce.

CURRENT ISSUES

• 9 July – ARHEN welcomes new Chief Allied Health Officer
• 3 July – ARHEN welcomes new Rural Health Commissioner
• 23 June – ARHEN welcomes new Federal Government initiatives to improve health care for people living in rural and remote locations.
• COVID-19 – ARHEN and UDRHs are committed to supporting students and rural and remote communities throughout the COVID-19 crisis.  See more here.
• COVID-19 – ARHEN supports comments made by the then Rural Health Commissioner about the vulnerability of of people living in rural and remote areas during the COVID-19 crisis. See more here.
• ARHEN has developed a position paper about allied health rural generalism and support the UDRH network may be able to offer.  See the March 2020 position paper here.
• ARHEN made a submission to the recent Australian Government consultation, Rural Allied Health Quality, Access and Distribution, Options for Commonwealth Government Policy Reform and Investment. 
  • An interim report was released on 28 February 2020.
  • The final Report for the Minister for Regional Health was released in June 2020.
• The next ARHEN Board meeting will be held in September 2020.