- Enduring inequities in breast cancer care
- Learning from 50 years of alcohol programs
- Injuries: leading cause of disability and death for kids
- Wide ranging benefits for mob of clean energy
- Integrated health helping 2 year-old Carter hear
- Investment in culturally relevant vocational training
- Sector Jobs
- Events and training
The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.
We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly.
Enduring inequities in breast cancer care
Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) today joined an international call to raise the standard of breast cancer care and close gaps that exist between and within countries – including in Australia. Earlier this week he new Lancet Commission on Breast Cancer released findings and recommendations on improving breast cancer care globally. Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer and by 2040, the incidence of new breast cancers is predicted to be more than 3 million per year.
BCNA’s Director of Policy, Advocacy & Support Services Vicki Durston welcomed this landmark report. “While advances have been made in breast cancer, there remain significant inequities including access to care and treatment among disadvantaged groups, financial toxicity, and a lack of comprehensive cancer data to inform global policy development,” Ms Durston said.
“Although the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is high in Australia, there are still significant equity of access issues, particularly for those with metastatic breast cancer, and people from priority populations including First Nations, LGBTIQ+, CALD and rural and remotes communities.”
You can read the BCNA’s article BCNA joins international call to challenge enduring inequities in breast cancer care here and access the Lancet Commission report in full here.
Learning from 50 years of alcohol programs
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-led initiatives to reduce alcohol harms are profiled in a new book that privileges, prioritises and amplifies First Nations voices. Nicole Hewlett, a Palawa woman and co-author with Peter d’Abbs of Learning from 50 Years of Aboriginal Alcohol Program, available here, says their book showcases “the solution-focused, strengths-based and resilient spirit of our people, despite the challenging realities we live in”.
The story of this book began with Peter d’Abbs, a non-Indigenous researcher. Over the past 50 years, d’Abbs witnessed the cycles, patterns and changes of government. He has firsthand accounts of how and why alcohol policy and programs were decided upon. Most importantly, he understood that the knowledge of those with lived experiences of the impact of such policies and programs.
The evidence that has informed government policy decisions such as the 2007 Intervention in the NT had unilaterally imposed a blanket ban on alcohol on all Aboriginal land in the NT has almost always not included the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who become pawns in a game to win the white middle-class vote. Despite this, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have continued to stand up and get on with supporting our communities.
To view the Croakey Health Media article “This book provides a gift of knowing, of truth and of hope” in full click here.
Co-authors Nicole Hewlett and Peter d’Abbs at a recent roundtable meeting in Parliament House. Photoe: Mel Hill Photography & FARE. Image source: Croakey Health Media.
Injuries: leading cause of disability and death for kids
Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can be unintentional (falls, road crashes, drowning, burns) or intentional (self harm, violence, assault). The type, place and cause of injury differs by age, developmental stage and sex. Injury also differs by socioeconomic status and place of residence. Injuries are predictable, preventable events, and understanding where and how they occur is essential to inform prevention efforts.
A new report, available here, from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released yesterday, tells us injury patterns differ between boys and girls and the causes of injury in children change as they progress through different stages of development. The Australian government has drafted a new National Injury Prevention Strategy, available here, which is expected to be released later in 2024. This will provide clear guidance for all levels of government and others on prevention strategies and investment needed.
In the meantime, better injury surveillance data is sorely needed to better identify the cause of injuries (such as family violence, alcohol and other drug misuse, intentional self-harm or consumer product-related injuries), and to identify where injuries took place (home, school, shopping centre, and so on). There is also insufficient attention paid to priority populations, including people of low socioeconomic status, those in rural and remote areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
To view The Conversation article Falls, fractures and self-harm: 4 charts on how kids’ injury risk changes over time and differs for boys and girls in full click here.
Image source: The Telethon Kids Institute website.
Wide ranging health benefits for mob of clean energy
Onsite renewables, such as solar farms, will help improve health outcomes for Indigenous communities by increasing energy security and lowering costs, according to submissions to a Federal Government consultation. Submissions informing development of a First Nations Clean Energy Strategy say replacing polluting, expensive diesel generators would allow for the continued operation of essential health equipment. A more reliable energy supply would also help improve online access to health resources.
The importance of improved housing for Indigenous communities in a warming climate is also highlighted in submissions to a consultation by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). While Australia’s transition to clean energy could bring important health benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, submissions stress that achieving these outcomes will require greater autonomy and decision-making in designing solutions, particularly when it comes to housing policy.
In its submission, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) noted that the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities was undermined by many economic and social determinants of health and wellbeing. It said the climate crisis would result in “more respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events, changes in the prevalence and geographic distribution of food and water-borne diseases, implications for food and water security, changes in the prevalence of infectious diseases, and potential impacts on the mental health of First Nations people”.
To view the Croakey Health News article National consultation highlights wide-ranging health benefits for First Nations communities from clean energy in full click here.
The image below is from an article How climate change is turning remote Indigenous houses into dangerous hot boxes, available here, published in The Conversation on 17 June 2022.
A poorly insulated home in Yuendumu, NT. Photo: Dr Simon Quilty. Image source: The Conversation.
Integrated health helping 2 year-old Carter hear
For the first two years of his life, everything was a little quiet for Carter Ah Chee-Maytum. Mum Yolandi Ah Chee said she quickly realised her baby was suffering from hearing loss — and behavioural issues like scratching, fights with his sister, yelling and the inability to understand people were rife. “He was a very angry little boy, because he just couldn’t hear anything for the first two years of his life,” she said. Faced with an 18-month waitlist and thousands of dollars in medical bills at a private doctor, Ms Ah Chee said it was a struggle to access medical intervention.
For the first time, Telethon will now fund a services coordinator and full-time speech pathology service for the super clinic. Ear, nose and throat surgeon Francis Lannigan said chronic ear disease was considered by UN agency the World Health Organisation as a marker of public health — and Australia was leading the world in its disease rates. “When you reach above the level of about 4% it’s considered to be a public health crisis,” he said. “In remote communities, up to 70% of Aboriginal children have chronic ear disease.”
Dr Lannigan said more needed to be done to address the healthcare disparities — including addressing the disease rates in Government commitments like Closing the Gap. “I’d like to see a cohort of First Nations children arrive at kindergarten with normal speech and language,” he said. “I cannot understand why it isn’t a bigger focus of the Closing the Gap program.”
To view The West Australian article Telethon: Cockburn Integrated Health helping kids like 2yo Carter to hear his mum in full click here.
Yolandi Ah Chee said she notice early on that Carter was impacted by hearing loss. Photo: Kelsey Reid, The West Australian.
Investment in culturally relevant vocational training
The Victorian government has announced more culturally relevant training for First Nations people through continued investment in the vocational educational and training sector. More than $6m in funding was announced at the Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative farm in Mooroopna for nine projects to help expand skills and training pathways for Indigenous people in the state.
Minister for Skills and TAFE Gayle Tierney also visited Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association to launch Koorie Education in Learn Locals: Best Practice and Protocols. This is a practical tool helping Learn Locals – over 200 of which operate across the state, offering courses in maths, literacy and workplace skills to help find work or pursue study – better meet the needs of Koorie learners and communities. The new protocols for Learn Locals offer guidance on building relationships with local Koorie communities as well as making sure the learning communities are culturally safe.
The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) president Geraldine Atkinson said: “We are very pleased to see the Koorie Protocols and Principles launched today and shortly distributed to every Learn Local in Victoria. It’s an important step in ensuring Aboriginal learners are welcomed and encouraged to succeed in community adult education.”
You can access more information on Learn Locals here and view the National Indigenous Times article More investment for culturally relevant vocational training in Victoria in full click here.
VAEAI President Geraldine Atkinson. Photo: James Ros, AAP. Image source: National Indigenous Times.
Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.
Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.
Free, specialised governance workshops for ACCHOs will be delivered in multiple locations across the country during 2024 and 2025.
Registrations are open now for Perth: 16-17 April 2024.
The program is delivered by legal experts and covers:
- Delegation of powers
- Finance for Boards
- Governance documents
- Managing conflicts of interest
- Managing risk
- Principles of good governance
- Structure and role of boards and sub-committees
To register, go here.
For more information, please contact NACCHO using this email link.
