The NAHS espoused a view of health which acknowledged the environment and social infrastructure requirements, as well as the purely medical, and recognised that local Indigenous community responsibility and decision making should be at the heart of the development of strategies.

Two key types of strategy were outlined in the report:

1) developing “health hardware” (infrastructure necessary for healthy communities - sound housing, clean water, sewage systems, roads, etc); and

2) strategies for addressing major identified health problems