About us
Migraine Australia is a national patient advocacy organisation to support all Australians living with migraine and their families. We are the voice of migraine in Australia.
Through advocacy, information and support, and led by people living with migraine, our mission is to actively and demonstrably improve the quality of life and wellbeing of all Australians living with migraine and their families and reduce the burden of migraine on both those directly affected and the broader community, through the prevention of migraine attacks, medication overuse headache, and other migraine-related conditions.
Our goals
We have identified four broad goals:
- Advocate for people living with migraine through lobbying, making submissions, and other actions to ensure people living with migraine are heard in any decision-making processes.
- Support the migraine community by achieving practical changes that make our lives easier. Such as improving our quality of care and our life and providing opportunities for people living with migraine to connect and share.
- Raise awareness of migraine in Australia. From what it is, how to manage it and how others can support people living with migraine.
- Coordinate and encourage migraine research that benefits the health and wellbeing of people living with migraine.
Our priorities
There are lots of things we want to do to improve the lives of people living with migraine. These are our priorities so far.
Community
- We will work to be an active contributor and facilitator for the migraine community.
- We will employ people with migraine, at all levels, to ensure that all our work is connected to the migraine community and people living with migraine.
- We will enable and empower people with migraine to have a say in what we do and how we help them and the migraine community.
Leadership
- National advocacy for migraine and people living with migraine
- Raise awareness and the profile of migraine
- Work with both federal and state governments to improve the provision of health and welfare services for people with migraine
- Work with stakeholders to improve awareness and understanding of migraine in their fields
Support
- Provide online and offline support for people living with migraine and their families
- Work to change our community and work environments wherever possible to become more migraine friendly
- Provide access to a directory of migraine specialist practitioners
Management
- Develop and promote effective migraine management
- Reduce medicine overuse headache
- Prevent the transformation of episodic migraine attacks into chronic migraine attacks or intractable migraine
- Provide accurate and empowering information about migraine treatment options
Research
- Commission research about patient experience and prevalence
- Provide research grants to academic migraine researchers, focusing on the needs of patients and migraine management
- Provide accurate and timely ‘plain English’ information about research on migraine
Our people
Migraine Australia is a volunteer organisation, led by a board and an organising committee entirely comprised of people with a lived experience of migraine. Under our current structure, each member of the board and organising committee take the lead for an area of our work.
Read more about our leadership.
Our voting members get the opportunity to have direct input into what we do and how we do it, both formally by approving the next year's activity at the AGM, and informally through polls and other consultations throughout the year.
Our partnerships and affiliations
Migraine Australia is a member of the Consumer's Health Forum and Painaustralia.
We have a close working relationship with the Australia New Zealand Headache Society and a number of other migraine bodies around the world.
Migraine Australia is a health promotion charity registered with the ACNC.
Acknowledgement of country
Migraine Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of lands across Australia, and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We are acutely aware of the higher rates of ill health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples, and that there is currently no data or research on migraine prevalence or impact in our Indigenous communities.