Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing [MJD-ABHWB] : Handbook 2025 : The University of Western Australia

Major Overview

Description

The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing major will provide you with a solid grounding in the multiple determinants that influence the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal peoples, families and communities in Australia. You will gain a broad introduction to Aboriginal health and wellbeing from an Aboriginal perspective; an understanding of the underlying issues that influence health and wellbeing from historical, cultural, environmental, political and spiritual perspectives; an understanding of particular health problems within Aboriginal communities and their impacts; knowledge of the strategies, policies and practices that have been implemented to improve health and wellbeing with a particular focus on Aboriginal community-led initiatives; and practical experience in Aboriginal health settings.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

explain Aboriginal health and wellbeing from the perspectives of Aboriginal peoples
demonstrate an understanding of the underlying issues that influence health and wellbeing from historical, environmental, cultural, political and spiritual perspectives
identify particular health problems within Aboriginal communities and their impacts
demonstrate knowledge of the strategies, policies and practices that have been implemented to improve health and wellbeing with a particular focus on Aboriginal-community-led initiatives
demonstrate practical experience in Aboriginal health settings
demonstrate a strong fundamental knowledge of human biology assisting in evaluating the biological evidence about disease mechanisms
integrate this biological knowledge with their understanding of Aboriginal ways, health and disease in formulating effective strategies required to address health issues.

Broadening guidelines

All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.

Prerequisites

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, are required to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course.

Courses

Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

Example Study Plans

See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:

S1: Semester 1
S2: Semester 2

Level 1

Students who have not achieved a scaled mark of at least 50 in ATAR Mathematics Applications or equivalent or higher, will need to successfully complete MATH1720 Mathematics Fundamentals in their first 48 points of study in this course.

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (24 points):

Availability	Unit code	Unit name	unit requirements
S1	ANHB1101	Human Biology I: Becoming Human	None
S2	ANHB1102	Human Biology II: Being Human	None
S1	INDG1150	Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard	Incompatibility HIST1100 Aboriginal History
S2	INDG1160	Boodjar Moort Katitjin: Introduction to Indigenous Heritage and Knowledge	None

Bridging units

Take units if applicable:

Availability	Unit code	Unit name	unit requirements
S1, S2	MATH1720	Mathematics Fundamentals	Prerequisites Mathematics Applications ATAR [with a scaled score of less than 50] or with permission Incompatibility Mathematics Applications ATAR [with a scaled score of 50 or greater] or Equivalent or higher

Level 2

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (24 points):

Availability	Unit code	Unit name	unit requirements
S1	AHEA2201	Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing	Prerequisites for the Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing major: INDG1150 Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard. or INDG1160 Boodjar Moort Katitjin: Introduction to Indigenous Heritage and Knowledge. for the Population Health major: PUBH1101 Health and Illness in Human Populations. or PUBH1102 Health and Globalisation. for pre-2012 courses: HIST1100 Aboriginal History. for the Women's Health minor: IMED1108 Issues in women's health across the lifespan. Incompatibility IMED2293 Aboriginal Health, IMED3393 Aboriginal Health
S1	INDG2300	Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit	Prerequisites any Level 1 unit from the Indigenous Knowledge, History and Heritage major or HIST1100 Aboriginal History
S2	PUBH2203	Foundations of Epidemiology and Biostatistics	Prerequisites Successful completion of any one PUBH1101 Health and Illness in Human Populations or PUBH1102 Foundations of Global Health or ANHB1101 Human Biology I: Becoming Human or ANHX1101 Human Biology 1 (Becoming Human) or ANHB1102 Human Biology II: Being Human or ANHX1102 Human Biology 2 (Being Human) or ANTH1001 Being Human: Culture, Identity and Society or ANTH1002 Global Change, Local Responses or PUBH2209 Plagues, Pox and Pandemics: the History of Death and Disease or SCOM1101 Communicating Science or SCOX1101 Communicating Science or BIOL1130 Frontiers in Biology or BIOL1131 Plant and Animal Biology or Enrolment in MJD-ABHWB Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing and either ( INDG1150 Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard or INDG1160 Boodjar Moort Katitjin: Introduction to Indigenous Heritage and Knowledge and AHEA2201 Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing ) Incompatibility IMED2003 Medical Sciences Research Methodologies (ID 5971)
S1	PUBH2216	Communication and Project Planning in Health	Prerequisites Successful completion of level 1 24 points or level 2 Unit(s) and any one PUBH1101 Health and Illness in Human Populations or PUBH1102 Foundations of Global Health or ANHB1101 Human Biology I: Becoming Human or ANHX1101 Human Biology 1 (Becoming Human) or ANHB1102 Human Biology II: Being Human or ANHX1102 Human Biology 2 (Being Human) or ANTH1002 Global Change, Local Responses or PSYC1101 Psychology: Mind and Brain or PSYC1102 Psychology: Behaviour in Context or IMED1001 Form and Function or IMED1002 The Facts of Life Incompatibility HSMD2216 Health Science Professional Practice

Level 3

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (24 points):

Availability	Unit code	Unit name	unit requirements
S2	AHEA3200	Aboriginal Health Community Organisation Placement	Prerequisites AHEA2201 Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing and INDG2300 Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit Incompatibility IMED3421/IMED3422 Aboriginal Community Organisation Placement Part 1/Part 2
S2	AHEA3300	Aboriginal Health Research Project	Prerequisites AHEA2201 Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing. and INDG2300 Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit. and INDG3300 Indigenous Research and Ethics
S1	AHEA3301	Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing	Prerequisites AHEA2201 Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing. and INDG2300 Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit
S1	INDG3300	Indigenous Research	Prerequisites INDG2300 Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit or INDG2400 Looking South: Noongar Voices or INDG2500 Looking North: The Wild West or INDG2600 Indigenous Representation or INDG2700 Knowing Country: The Dreaming and Darwin or LAWS2225 Indigenous Peoples and the Law

UWA Handbook 2025