WALGA Public Health Planning Masterclass: Data Spotlight
Sep 4, 2025
In September, the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas collaborated with the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) to deliver a webinar as part of WALGA’s Public Health Planning Masterclasses, a series designed to support local governments in developing their local public health plans.
Alongside Marketa Reeves, ACYWA Project Manager, we heard insights from Tim Landrigan, Director of Epidemiology, WA Health, and Karen Dales-Anderson, Early Years Officer at City of Wanneroo.
Tim provided information on the Health Profiles developed by the Department of Health and provided to each Local Government, to support the development of local public health plans. Marketa gave a demonstration of the Atlas and discussed how the platform can help Local governments access a wide range of previously inaccessible data at community level (e.g. hospital data, police data, and child protection data). Through a process called data mapping, the Atlas can identify local priorities and review alignment with state priorities. Marketa demonstrated this using key indicators such as mental health, immunisation, and socio-economic advantage/disadvantage.
Data mapping tools such as the Atlas can be used to supplement the information provided by the Department of Health (health profiles), thereby filling data gaps and helping to fulfil local public health planning objectives. Karen explained how the City of Wanneroo has utilised the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas to improve early years developmental outcomes (using AEDC data) for young children in the area. Karen emphasised the value of having accessible, localised data to support strategic goals and shared how the collaboration with ACYWA led to more informed planning and community engagement in the City of Wanneroo.
The webinar highlighted the Atlas as an essential resource for public health planners to uncover insights that help shape priorities for action, particularly in areas where data gaps exist.
Watch the recording here:
