The Public Health Indigenous Leadership in Education (PHILE) Network is part of the Indigenous Public Health Capacity Building Project, which is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) and jointly managed by Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit at the University of Melbourne and the Institute for Koorie Education at Deakin University. The PHILENetwork is a coalition of leading national Indigenous public health academics and professionals, formed from the National Indigenous Public Curriculum Network, to build capacity of Indigenous public health teaching and learning programs nationally. It provides a forum for Indigenous public health academics and practitioners to exchange resources and ideas, and develop policies and programs of relevance to teaching and learning activities in public health.
A key activity of the PHILENetwork is capacity building with Master of Public Health (MPH) programs nationally, regarding integration of Indigenous health. At the 2006 National Indigenous Public Health Curriculum Workshop in Sydney, six core Indigenous health competencies required by every MPH graduate were proposed and refined by subsequent consultations across the network. The resultant National Indigenous Public Health Curriculum Framework, endorsed by the Australian Network of Academic Public Health Institutions (ANAPHI) is a guide for MPH programs to integrate the six core Indigenous public health competencies into their programs. The six core Indigenous health competencies, expected of every MPH graduate, are integral to the Foundation Competencies for Master of Public Health Graduates in Australia. These competencies have been endorsed by ANAPHI, now called the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia and DoHA.
The PHILENetwork is currently working with MPH programs to review the integration of Indigenous content within their programs and to disseminate the findings. An Expression of Interest was sent out last year to those institutions that deliver an MPH program. By the end of 2010, the PHILENetwork had received inquiries from thirteen institutions regarding participation in the review. Following approval of the amended ethics application through the University of Melbourne Human Ethics Sub-Committee for the MPH Program Reviews, the PHILENetwork has recommenced activities to progress this key piece of work. Preliminary findings of the first review, which was conducted at the University of New South Wales in September, were recently presented at the Public Health Association Australia 41st Annual Conference in Brisbane.
For any additional information or membership enquiries contact Leanne Coombe via T: +613 8344 9375 or E:
