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
2020
Each University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) is a leader in multidisciplinary rural health education and research, working with their local community to address unmet health care needs. There are now 16 UDRHs. All are part of ARHEN.
A core UDRH activity is provision of clinical placements in rural and remote locations for health science students from universities around Australia.
Clincial placements help address the maldistribution of health professionals in rural and remote communities, an issue which affects some 7 million Australians who live and work in the bush.