Study Question: What would it take to address Family Violence in Aboridginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities?
The Australian National University is seeking partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to conduct research to find out what communities need to promote and improve safety for families. We want to partner and work with local organisations and communities to make sure the research benefits the community.
Who are we?
We work at the Australian National University (ANU). The study is led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers. Professor Victoria Hovane (Ngarluma, Malgnin/Kitja, Gooniyandi), along with Associate Professor Raymond Lovett (Wongaibon, Ngiyampaa) and Dr Jill Guthrie (Wiradjuri) from NCEPH, and Professor Matthew Gray of the Centre for Social Research and Methods (CSRM) at ANU will be leading the study.
Study Question: What would it take to address Family Violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities?
How are we going to gather information to answer the study question?
A Community Researcher (who we would give funds to employ) would capture the data by interviewing 100 community members, running 3 focus groups for Men / Women / Youth (over 16). We would interview approx. 5 community members to hear about the story in your community.
We know Family Violence happens in all communities. We don’t want to find out the prevalence, we want to know what your communities needs to feel safe. We will also be mapping the services in your community, facilities and resources available in a community. All this information will be given back to your community.
What support would we provide your service?
We are able to support your organisation up to $40,000 (including funds for $30 vouchers), this would also help to employ a Community Researcher.
Community participants would be provided with a $30 voucher to complete a survey, another $30 for the focus group, and another $30 for the interview for their time.
What will we give your organisation?
We can give you back all the data that we have captured from your community, (DE identified and confidentialised of course). We can give you the data in any form you like, plus create a Community Report for your community. There might be some questions you would like to ask your community, and we can include them in the survey.
How long would we be involved with your community / organisation?
Approximately 2 months
How safe is the data we collect?
The data is safe. It will be DE identified and Confidentialised. Our final report will reflect what Communities (up to 20) took part in the study, but your data and community will be kept secret. Meaning, no one will know what data came from your community.
Application close April 27
If you think this study would be of benefit to your community, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Victoria Hovane, or the teamon 1300 531 600 or email facts.study@anu.edu.au.
Part 2 Re: Survey – Have your say on the national Key Performance Indicators
Summer May Finlay is currently undertaking a PhD on the impact of the national Key Performance Indicators on the ACCHO sector titled: Defining our own outcomes.
Summer is interested in your views about the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) national Key Performance Indicators (nKPIs) and how these work in your organisation.
To understand what is happening at ACCHOs across the country, she is asking staff who play a role in collecting, reporting or using nKPI data to complete a survey.
The survey will only take about 10 minutes and no person or organisation will be identified in any reporting.
Please feel free to send this email to your staff. The survey will close on the 31st of March.
Attached is the participant information sheet for more information about the research project and the survey. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.
PhD Candidate (Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Centre for Population Health Research, within School of Health Sciences University of South Australia)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Special Interest Group Co-Convener (Public Health Association of Health)
Co-vice chair Indigenous Working Group (World Federation of Public Health Associations)
Aboriginal health leaders Olga Havnen , James Ward and Pat Turner who have experience or specialisation in child protection, who have evidence based opinions, who agree child safety is paramount & priority & who understand the complexities of child protection
#ThisIsAustralia #FirstNations
‘What we need is intelligent, informed discussion and looking for solutions rather than the confected outrage and anger’ – Olga Havnen, Dilba Health Service CEO, @sunriseon7 this morning.
Well said, Olga.
#sun7 #ausmedia #auspol #childprotection
Watch the full Sunrise interview here : We have the solutions
Tuesday morning’s episode saw co-host David Koch lead a discussion about the “complex and very emotional issue” of childhood protection in Indigenous communities.
The Sunrise studios in Sydney have been swamped by protesters furious over the program’s segment on Aboriginal adoption earlier this week.
“We know the conversation around Aboriginal children and their removal sparked concern and protests last week,” Kochie said. “So we’re responding to calls by the Aboriginal community to look at the issue with the experts.”
One of those experts included Dilba Health Service chief executive Olga Havnen, who corrected Sam Armytage’s statement last week that non-Indigenous families are unable to adopt Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
“There’s absolutely no prohibition or restriction on the ability of non-Aboriginal people to care for children,” she said. “Either as foster carers or in permanent adoption.”As the panel wrapped up, Kochie suggested the experts and Sunrise work together to inform Australians about how the childhood protection system could be improved.
“[Let’s] get some of those changes through,” he said. “It is a real issue affecting the Indigenous community right across the country.”
Ms Havnen then gave Sunrise one last gentle whack on the head.
“What we need is intelligent, informed discussion and looking for solutions rather than the confected outrage and anger,” she said.
Last week, Samantha Armytage took to social media to claim media coverage of the controversial panel was “hysterical”. However, on Tuesday she struck a much more cheerful note.
“Informative, productive chat,” she tweeted. “Thanks to our panel today. We look forward to having you on the show often.”
” Over the past two weeks, a number of commentators have called for the removal of Aboriginal children with sexually transmissible infections (STIs) from their families. This has resulted from the wrongful conflating of rates of STI notifications with child sexual abuse. It’s important to delineate these two issues.
Young people living in remote Aboriginal communities, especially those aged 15-29 years, have high rates of STIs such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis. But stating all STI cases among young people are related to child sexual abuse isn’t helpful in dealing with either a serious public health matter or the well-being and safety of vulnerable children.”
From James Ward Doctor John Boffa , Belinda Hengel
Child Sexual Abuse and STI data – the facts, prepared by AMSANT, addresses key questions relating to child sexual abuse and STI data. It is important that the facts are known and the issues are better understood in our sector. NACCHO is advocating for additional resources for our members in the hot spots of North Queensland, the Northern Territory, and Kimberley.
In 2016, the rate of chlamydia notifications among Aboriginal people aged 15 to 29 was 4,602 per 100,000 – compared with 1,479 per 100,000 for their non-Indigenous peers.
For gonorrhoea, this was 1,825 compared with 173.
The rate of young Aboriginal people infected with syphilis was 173 per 100,000, compared with 15 per 100,000 in non-Indigenous peers, driven largely by an outbreak occurring over the last six years across northern and central Australia.
The significantly higher notification rates among Aboriginal young people are skewed by the higher numbers in remote areas, where rate differences are even greater.
The reasons for these rates of STI diagnoses are complicated and complex. They include poorer outcomes in many of the social determinants of sexual health: education and health literacy, access to health services, racism (in the form of stigmatising social institutions), income and employment rates. All of these are known to be determinants of higher STI rates in populations globally.
STIs are also driven by risk behaviours such as inconsistent condom use, early sexual debut, partner changes and alcohol misuse. A recent study of 2,877 young Aboriginal people found the median age of sexual debut to be 15 years – around 50% of the participants had their sexual encounter before, and 50% after.
The same study found most people had sex with similar aged peers. The median number of partners in the last year was one, and inconsistent condom use was common, especially when alcohol and or other drugs were involved. All of this isn’t that different really from non-Aboriginal Australians.
The risk of acquiring an STI in remote Aboriginal communities is also influenced by issues including demographics and mobility. The median age of Aboriginal people in Australia is 22 years (a peak time for sexual activity) compared to 36 years for non-Aboriginal counterparts.
Short-term and temporary mobility, especially between remote communities and across borders, also peaks in young Aboriginal adults, typically aged 17 to 25. This happens to occur also when young people begin to explore and expand their immediate social networks.
What is different between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people living in remote areas is the underlying prevalence of STIs in the latter communities.
Among 16- to 19-year-olds in remote communities, prevalence has been estimated at 13% for chlamydia and 12% for gonorrhoea.
This compares to prevalence rates of around 3% for chlamydia and way less than 1% for gonorrhoea and syphilis among heterosexual non-Aboriginal people of the same age, living in urban areas of Australia.
With such high prevalences, it’s not surprising young people having consensual sex with each other in remote Aboriginal communities are diagnosed with STIs more often than non-Aboriginal peers in mainstream Australia.
What about STIs in children and young people less than 16 years?
A small proportion of STIs reported each year occur in people under 16 years of age. Around 97% of these cases in people aged less than 16 years occur in young people aged 13 to 15 which relate to two issues: early sexual debut with similar aged peers or sexual abuse.
In rare cases, STIs have been detected in those under 12 years of age. According to personal communication with the Northern Territory’s Department of Health, there were five cases in total of either chlamydia or gonorrhoea in 2017. No cases of syphilis were reported in children less than 12 years. All of these cases have been reported and investigated, by the relevant authorities.
Sexual abuse is never acceptable. All of us need to do more to ensure every child and young person in these communities can live in a safe environment.
It has been recently reported by the Northern Territory Police Department that around 700 cases of suspected “child sexual offences” have been notified over the last five years in young people aged less than 16 years.
It’s important to note that a large number of these are likely to be the result of mandatory reporting. Mandatory reporting occurs when young people under the age of 16 are known to have a partner with an age gap of more than two years, or where there is any suspicion of sexual abuse, or when a person under the age of 14 is known to be engaging in sexual activity.
Mandatory reporting is required by anyone (parent, teacher, clinician or any other person) who becomes aware of such activity.
Given around half of young people in remote areas have commenced sexual activity before the age of 16, it’s not surprising a significant number of notifications have been reported to authorities. These notifications annually represent around 0.01% of the Aboriginal population in this age group.
What needs to be done
As is the case in many remote communities across Australia, there has been a failure to adequately address STIs even in people over the age of 16. Commonwealth, state and territory governments have a responsibility to address these issues holistically with programs that have resonance for young Aboriginal people.
Education, child protection and health departments all have a role to play. More resources are desperately required from Commonwealth, state and territory governments to address this gap in public health.
Further, thinking outside the square to address STIs holistically is required. Building resilience in young Aboriginal people, tapping into the agency that young people already have to reduce risk from STI acquisition, or curbing alcohol through supply reduction measures should be considered as solutions to addressing STIs in remote areas including in larger centres.
A basic principle of any communicable disease outbreak is to quickly respond to diagnose and treat all cases. The ongoing syphilis outbreak and the sustained rates of other STIs in remote Australia, is a case in hand where an urgent public health response is required.
Among other measures, this will require a large, well-resourced response to screen and treat a large proportion of young people in the affected areas within a relatively short time period. Aboriginal community controlled health services and other primary care services can achieve this if properly resourced.
There are examples of successful approaches to address STIs through well-resourced Aboriginal community controlled health services and these need to be built upon.
The program from Nganampa Health, an Aboriginal community controlled health service, that has developed and implemented a comprehensive approach to addressing STIs has shown a reduction in rates over a number of decades and needs to be expanded to other regions of remote Australia.
Donna Ah Chee, CEO of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, and Olga Havnen, CEO of the Danila Dilba Health Service, contributed to this article
“As the only Academic Health Science Centre in Australia with a primary focus on Aboriginal and remote health, we are pleased that Minister Hunt is leading on the front foot with an announcement such as this.
It’s especially pleasing that this is happening just as we are about to engage with a wide consultation between our members over health research priorities in Central Australia in the coming years—this three year commitment allows us to do this with confidence.
The Centre is already working in key areas such as endemic HTLV-1 infection, exploring the complex interplay between communicable and chronic disease as well as exploring the capacity of the primary health care sector to reduce avoidable hospitalisations,”
The Chairperson of the Central Australia Academic Health Science Centre [CA AHSC] John Paterson has welcomed the commitment over three years of significant research funding to the Centre by Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.
“Research projects that will be supported will emphasise those based on community need and initiative especially as expressed by the Aboriginal partner organisations, though this will not necessarily preclude externally identified needs.
In any case, we will focus on comprehensive approaches to consultation and participation in the ethical design of research projects, the carriage of the research, and the rapid implementation of positive research results.
A key activity will be that of building future leaders in the Aboriginal research workforce. We have already started this critical work with the first meeting of a network of more than 15 Aboriginal researchers in Central Australia.”
A health research partnership benefitting Warumungu, Arrernte (Eastern), Pintupi, Pitjantjatjarra, Arrernte (Central), Yankunytjarra, Luritja, Arrernte (Western), Warlpiri, Anmatyere, Ngaanyatjarra, Kaytetye and Alyawarre speakers across Central Australia
Press Release : Medical research to uncover better treatment for Indigenous Australians
The Turnbull Government will invest more than $6 million in a health science centre in Alice Springs which is focused on addressing health challenges faced by Indigenous Australians.
The Central Australia Academic Health Science Centre will receive $6.1 million over three years from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
This funding will support better treatment and diagnosis of health challenges experienced by Indigenous Australians.
The Centre brings together top researchers, medical experts and local communities to look at ways to improve healthcare options for the specific health challenges facing Indigenous Australians.
The Central Australia Academic Health Science Centre is the first Aboriginal-led collaboration of its kind and demonstrates the importance of Aboriginal community leadership in research and health improvement.
These projects will directly benefit regional and remote Aboriginal communities and it is our hope that medical research will help in closing the gap on disadvantage.
The first priority project that will be supported through the Central Australia Academic Health Science Centre will be a study into addressing HTLV-1.
Additional areas that will be considered by the Centre include addressing research into ear and eye health, renal health and dialysis, children and maternity health in Indigenous communities.
Indigenous health is one of the Turnbull Government’s fundamental priorities and while progress has been made on some key indicators, with male and female life expectancy increasing and child mortality and smoking rates decreasing, more needs to be done.
Today I am also pleased to announce more than $740,000 of MRFF funding for University of Queensland researchers to undertake a world-first project, in collaboration with Aboriginal communities, to find ways to improve Aboriginal food security and dietary intake in cities and remote areas.
Poor diet and food insecurity are major contributors to the excess mortality and morbidity suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.
The Turnbull Government is committed to improving the health services for Indigenous Australians and we will continue to invest in better treatment, care and medical research.
1.1 : National : Close the Gap Day: a greater role for Aboriginal community controlled health services essential
1.2 : Ten Close the Gap reasons Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services are more than just another health service.
2.1 NSW : Sydney Close the Gap Picnic Breakfast event Surry Hills event.
2.2: NSW : Awabakal ACCHO Close the Gap event : Expanding services to the Port Stephens community.
2.3: NSW : Ready Mob and Galambila help Close the Gap at Bowraville Indigenous Health Workforce Expo
3.1 NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Close the Gap event Darwin
3.2 NT : Congress Alice Springs and CASSE Close the Gap _- Aboriginal Male Health
4.WA AHCWA is hosting a Close the Gap Family Festival!
6.1 : QLD ATSICHS Brisbane team helps to Close the Gap at the women’s fun run
6.2 QLD : Telehealth closes the gap on Indigenous health in Queensland
7. Vic : VAHS is holding an event /Health checks for Closing the Gap Day.
8. SA : Port Power and Deadly Choices support Aboriginal Health checks to Close the Gap
9.Tas: Close the gap Events see link below
1.National : Close the Gap Day: a greater role for Aboriginal community controlled health services essential
Close the Gap Day is a day to acknowledge the critical role Aboriginal medical services and health professionals must play in turning around the significant health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation said today.
After a decade of the Close the Gap campaign, programs and projects managed by Aboriginal services on the ground in local communities are the only model proven to be making inroads in closing the Indigenous health gap.
The evidence tells us that Aboriginal people respond best to health care provided by Aboriginal people or controlled by the Aboriginal community.
At least one-third of the health gap can be attributed to the social and cultural determinants of health.
If we are serious about improving health outcomes for Aboriginal people, governments at all levels must do more to join the dots between education, housing, employment and other determinants and make sure that Indigenous led solutions are at the centre of strategies that make those links.”
10 reasons Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services are more than just another health service.
Download the 10 Key ACCHO facts with graphics and references
1.NACCHO puts Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands
See NACCHO TV
2.We are around for the long haul — commitment and continuity are required to close the gap
Our first members have been around since the very early 1970s. Our roots are deep. We have endured as a high quality, clinically accredited community controlled service for over forty years. As the health system becomes more complex, the role of our services becomes even more critical. The Indigenous population is also increasing rapidly, yet funding levels have not kept pace with demand.
3.We punch above our weight:
Aboriginal controlled health services provide about three million episodes of care each year for about 350,000 people. In very remote areas, our services provided about one million episodes of care in 2015-16.1
4.Our customers trust us with their health
Our services build ongoing relationships to give continuity of care so that chronic conditions are managed and preventative health care can be effectively targeted. Studies have shown that Aboriginal controlled health services are 23% better at attracting and retaining Aboriginal clients than mainstream providers.2 Through local engagement and a proven service delivery model, our clients ‘stick’. The cultural safety in which we provide our services is a key factor of our success.
More people are using Aboriginal controlled health services. It is reported that in the 24 months to June 2015, our services increased their primary health care services, with the total number of clients rising by 8% (from 316,269 to 340,299).3 A map showing the footprint of our clients is attached.
5.We are proven to be clinically effective
As recently reported in the Australian Health Review (March 2017), we are more effective than other health services at improving Indigenous health.4 Our services specialize in providing comprehensive primary care consistent with our clients’ needs.
This includes: home and site visits; provision of medical, public health and health promotion services; allied health, nursing services; assistance with making appointments and transport; help accessing child care or dealing with the justice system; drug and alcohol services; and providing help with income support. This is funded by both State and Australian Governments.
6.We provide value for money
Aboriginal controlled health services are cost-effective. Our activities result in greater health benefits per dollar spent; measured at a value of $1.19:$1. The lifetime health impact of interventions delivered by our services is 50% greater than if these same interventions were delivered by mainstream health services, primarily due to improved Indigenous access.5
All revenue is re-invested into our health services. There is no profit-taking. We reinvest in our Indigenous workforce and in locally-designed strategies to trial new approaches. We are part of Indigenous communities and understand how critical respectful community engagement is to improving health outcomes.
We have a high level of community oversight and accountability. Our boards are made up of local Indigenous people and we serve our communities. We are responsive to their needs and they are not shy to tell us to lift our game, if we disappoint. We have innovative, robust and flexible service models grounded in the culture of our people and contemporary primary health care practices.
7.Governments and communities have invested in the sector and have grown it over time — it is a valuable health asset
Our community controlled health services are an integral part of the Australian health system just as hospitals are. An exemption under section 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 allows Aboriginal controlled health services access to Commonwealth funding, even if they are funded by state governments.6 This flexibility allows all parties to work closely together to provide the full service offer and get the best outcomes according to local need and circumstances.
There are many examples of important partnerships between our services and mainstream providers working collaboratively to maximize impact. For example, in Western NSW, the roll-out of a new partnership saw the number of Aboriginal people using integrated care services for chronic conditions more than double in the space of just four months.7
The health system is increasingly complex in nature and the dire state of Indigenous health has meant that Aboriginal people need to have control over their own health response and be part of the solution. We work closely with mainstream services to extend the reach of services and share our expertise to improve cultural safety.
While governments struggle to deliver service models that rarely reach or effectively service the needs of the most vulnerable Aboriginal people, we excel. That’s because we are Aboriginal people who understand what is required to change the future health of our people and we deliver it.
6.Most of our staff are Indigenous, but we need more Indigenous clinical staff
Our network provides a critical and practical pathway into employment for many Indigenous people. Currently, 56% of our staff are Indigenous. The greater representation is amongst non-clinical staff.
Much more needs to be done to develop viable career pathways to get more Indigenous doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. Across Australia, there are only about 170 Indigenous medical practitioners, 730 allied health professionals, and 2,190 nurses.8
Source: Healthy Futures
9.We are the largest employer of Indigenous people
Our 141 Aboriginal controlled health services employ about 6,000 staff (most of whom are Indigenous). This means that one out of every 44 Indigenous jobs in Australia is with one of our services (3,300 of 141,400 FTE: 2.33%). This puts us well ahead of all mining employers. This is in a context where the health and social care sector employs 15% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce; almost four times as many as the mining industry (4%).9
Our large network of services is also critical to the economic health of many remote and local communities.
10.The need is compelling
Good progress has been made, but Indigenous health is still vulnerable to disturbing developments such as the recent outbreak of congenital syphilis across regions of Northern Australia.
This is an entirely preventable disease not seen in Australia for generations and its occurrence raises concerns about the delivery of antenatal care and sexually transmitted infection and blood borne virus control programs for all high risk groups.
2.1 NSW : Sydney Close the Gap Picnic Breakfast event Surry Hills event
2.2 NSW : Awabakal ACCHO Close the Gap event : Expanding services to the Port Stephens community
To celebrate National Close The Gap day on Thursday 15th March, Awabakal is excited to announce that we are expanding our services to the Port Stephens community.
You are invited to the grand opening of our Raymond Terrace site!!
88 Port Stephens St Raymond Terrace
Thursday 15th March @ 11:30am.
This is our contribution to close the health and life expectancy gap between the Aboriginal and the non-Indigenous communities in our area.
We look forward to working with you and your family towards a healthier community.
2.3: NSW : Ready Mob and Galambila help Close the Gap at Bowraville Indigenous Health Workforce Expo. #FutureHealthChampions
The Ready Mob and Galambila ACCHO Coffs Harbour was pleased to participate in the Indigenous health workforce expo at the Bowraville Central School on Friday, 9 March. Pictured above with Karl Briscoe CEO NATSIHWA
This event was a first for a number of peak Aboriginal Health bodies and stakeholders that informed and inspired Indigenous students and their families in Bowraville and surrounding areas to pursue careers in health.
Alongside the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM), Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA), the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association (NATSIHWA) and the Mid North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD), AIDA had more than 30 Indigenous doctors, nurses, midwives, nutritionists, and physiotherapists attending the school to deliver activities demonstrating some of the day-to-day procedures that occur in their respective fields.
Through applying plaster casts, delivering a mannequin baby, operating on organs and participating in pre-game exercises undertaken by players from the St Kilda and Melbourne Victory teams, showed students the variety of jobs available to them if they embark on careers in health.
CATSINaM CEO Janine Mohamed says “building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce through targeted investment in our young people is critical to closing the gap on health disadvantage – we are proud to be part of an initiative that works with our communities in delivering a tailored approach to health education and training pathways”.
NATSIHWA CEO Karl Briscoe is proud to participate in the event, which will showcase what is possible for the Aboriginal youth of Bowraville who wish to commence a career in the health sector. “There are many pathways for our youth and we are thrilled to help foster and support our next generation of Aboriginal Health Workers and Aboriginal Health Practitioners”.
IAHA Chairperson Nicole Turner says “we know that if we want to see long-term sustainable change to health outcomes, we need a strong representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners and workers across the many diverse careers in health. Engaging our young people and sharing the amazing opportunities available is part of growing that health workforce into the future”.
AIDA President Dr Kali Hayward says “it is so encouraging that we have so many people, organisations, families and community members supporting this important event. We are really excited to bring Indigenous health workers into the community to engage with students about the many options they have regarding careers in health”.
The MNCLHD has been instrumental in pulling this event together at the local level and engaging with the community to ensure this event is a success for everyone who attends. It is inspiring to see this level of enthusiasm in the community.
3.1 NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Close the Gap event Darwin
Today 15 March is Close The Gap day. From 9:30AM to 11AM Danila Dilba will be at Stuart Park Pharmacy, 4/5 Westralia St, Stuart Park.
There will be food and giveaways supplied by the pharmacy. Danila Dilba will have information stalls and Hearing Australia will be there as well doing free hearing checks.
Radio Larrakia will also be broadcasting live from the event. Come on down tomorrow for this important day.
3. 2 NT : Congress Alice Springs and CASSE Close the Gap _- Aboriginal Male Health
” Establishing a male leadership group, having a place for males and addressing violence have been identified as key priorities in a research project to investigate ways to develop a best practice Aboriginal Men’s Shed in Alice Springs.
The Kurruna Mwarre-Ingkintja (Good Spirit Males Place) Research Project, a collaboration between the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (Congress) and Creating A Safe Supportive Environment (CASSE) – commenced in 2015 with the aim of developing a unique Aboriginal Men’s Shed Model, along cultural lines, to empower men to find their voices and live authentically.
For two years prior, many consultations were held with Aboriginal men and communities to determine the direction and need for pending research. The research has been philanthropically funded.”
The completed research report was launched at THE OLD COURTHOUSE, ALICE SPRINGS
Ken Lechleitner Pangarte, the primary Researcher Officer, is an Anmatjere and Western Arrernte man with a cultural reputation for being able to move between the two worlds and for being an advocate for change for his people.
On establishing a male leadership group, Ken said: “This group of males shaped the direction of where the research should go, not to the bookshelves to gather dust, but create an entity to ensure findings are implemented into becoming outcomes.”
The group identified the need for new Aboriginal organisations, while operating alongside, and to provide a place for men to go to receive the physical, social and psychological support they need to get their lives on track, leading to establishment of the Blokes On Track Aboriginal Corporation (BOTAC).
“Establishing BOTAC was a breakthrough in finding a solution to engaging multiple services and these services have indicated that they would be happy working with a mutual body like BOTAC providing the required male leadership,” Ken stated.
The project included qualitative research interviews with 23 male participants living in Alice Springs that illuminated critical aspects of men’s experiences. Fourteen of the men agreed to have their interviews on public record and are published in “Talking Powerfully from the Heart – Interviews by Ken Lechleitner”, providing a moving adjunct to the research report.
“Their interviews brought to light and to life new found voices for males from central Australia,” Ken said.
Pamela Nathan, Director of CASSE’s Aboriginal Australian Relations Program, Senior Investigator, co-supervised the project and stated that the interviews “illuminated critical aspects of men’s experiences. Their recognition of the degree to which they have unmet emotional and psychological needs was striking – an aspect of their experience that seemed unrecognised by the wider public.
“The men say they hide their feelings that ‘they hurt, they bleed they have pain’, ‘all suffering’, feel ‘degraded and scorned’, ‘disempowered’, ‘lost’, ‘devalued’ and ‘unrecognised,’ seen as ‘violent losers’ and more.”
A key component of the project was trialling the psychoanalytically informed 15week ‘BreakThrough Violence’ group treatment program for the prevention and treatment of violence. The program privileges cultural and emotional experiences.
The summary of participants in the group program is an indictment of the system –many of the men were repeat violent offenders and many had not before received treatment for violence, let alone treatment in a culturally appropriate manner:
32 men regularly participated in the weekly program
over two thirds (23 men) had not attended a violence treatment program before
nearly all (30) of the men were mandated
over two-thirds (20 men) had committed violent offences
21 of the men had been in gaol before
15 had been in gaol at least twice if not more often.
5 of the men had been in gaol over five times.
23 of the men were substance affected at the time of the offence.
The majority of men were aged between 20 and 40
Half the men lived in remote communities, with slightly less living in town
30 out of the 34 men said they found the group helpful.
Final recommendations from the Kurruna Mwarre-Ingkintja Research Project report include:
Establish a services agreement between Non-Government and Government Organisations through Blokes On Track Aboriginal Corporation (BOTAC)
Establishment of Male Cultural Place
Establishment of Psychological Place Health Retreat
Men’s Residential area
Chronic Disease Care Management services to be provided into the Male place
Palliative Care Services on Country
Establish a lease agreement with Iwupataka Land Trust
7.1 Public Space area
7.2 Restaurant / Café
7.3 Market Place
For over 40 years, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (Congress) has provided support and advocacy for Aboriginal people in the struggle for justice and equity. Since that time, Congress has expanded to become the largest Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation in the Northern Territory, providing a comprehensive, holistic and culturally-appropriate primary health care service to Aboriginal people living in and nearby Alice Springs, including five remote communities; Amoonguna, Ntaria (and Wallace Rockhole), Santa Teresa, Utju (Areyonga) and Mutitjulu. Today, we are one of the most experienced Aboriginal primary health care services in the country, a strong political advocate of closing the gap on Aboriginal health disadvantage and a national leader in improving health outcomes for all Aboriginal people.
CASSE (Creating A Safe Supportive environment) is a psychological not-for-profit organisation with the vision to change minds in order to save lives. CASSE aims to promote safe, supportive environments through psychoanalytic awareness. We focus on empowering people and communities to understand and work through their trauma (manifest by suicide, depression, violence, substance usage) by preserving and strengthening cultural life and capacity between the generations in a self-determining way.
4.WA AHCWA is hosting a Close the Gap Family Festival!
There will be live entertainment, traditional dancers, 100.9fm Noongar Radio, community stalls, food vans, animal farm, face painting, traditional art, seniors tent, photo booth, raffles and heaps more!
Key details: 24th March, 2018 at Birdwood Park, Highgate, from 11am-5pm!
Please share through your networks and make sure you come down
5. ACT : Winnunga ACCHO helping to Close the Gap in the ACT
The Ngunnawal people are the Traditional Owners of the lands that the ACT is located on. However, there are many Aboriginal people from other parts of the country living in and visiting Canberra. This is mainly due to the mobility of people generally, connecting with family, the histories of displacement, and employment opportunities particularly in the Commonwealth public service.
Winnunga was established in 1988 by local Aboriginal people inspired by the national mobilisation of people around the opening of the new Parliament House in May and the visit by the Queen. The late Olive Brown, a particularly inspirational figure who worked tirelessly for the health of Aboriginal people, saw the need to set up a temporary medical service at the Tent Embassy site in Canberra and this proved to be the beginning of Winnunga.
Mrs Brown enlisted the support of Dr Sally Creasey, Carolyn Patterson (registered nurse/midwife), Margaret McCleod and others to assist. Soon after ACT Health offered Mrs Brown a room in the office behind the Griffin Centre to run a clinic twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday mornings) and on Saturday mornings.
Winnunga operated out of this office from 1988 to 1990. The then Winnunga Medical Director, Dr Peter Sharp, began work at Winnunga in 1989. Other staff worked as volunteers. In January 1990 the t ACT Minister for Health at the time, Wayne Berry, provided a small amount of funding. By 1991 the clinic was operating out of the Griffin Centre as a full time medical practice. In that same year the ACT attained self-government.
6.1 : QLD ATSICHS Brisbane team helps to Close the Gap at the women’s fun run
6.2 QLD : Telehealth closes the gap on Indigenous health in Queensland
“By having a telehealth-supported dementia service based at a primary health care centre, it means people will not have to travel to access care, and the videoconferencing equipment will be available for other services as well”
Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health CEO Kerry Crumblin said areas previously not covered by specialist services would benefit from the program, and patients at high risk could be targeted
Centre Director Professor Anthony Smith said the service would provide specialist geriatric consultations via videoconference for people with dementia and their carers living in rural and remote areas of Queensland.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as young as 45 are being diagnosed with dementia, and Indigenous people experience the disease at a rate three to five times higher than the general population,” Professor Smith said.
The service, based at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and Cairns Hospital, aims to provide earlier diagnosis and better treatment.
The DREAMT project is funded by the Department of Health, Dementia and Aged Care Services Fund
7. Vic :VAHS is holding an event /Health checks for Closing the Gap Day.
CTG will be held at both Fitzroy and Preston sites.
During the day, there are going to be health information stalls and lunch. For people who haven’t had their health checks, and would like to book in for another time, today is your day!
As apart of having you health check completed, you can either receive a t-shirt or $30 voucher. Hope to see you there. Thank you
” Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion ignored a plea from a government MP more than a year ago to implement a $25 million policy to combat sexually transmitted diseases gripping Aboriginal communities, instead adopting a $9m program that remains stalled.
The Australian has obtained a letter penned by Liberal senator Dean Smith warning that the rise of STIs in indigenous communities was “disturbing” and urged Senator Scullion to take immediate action, describing the situation as “critical”.
See Minister Scullion’s Correction part 2 below
” The Minister for Indigenous Health, Ken Wyatt, has confirmed that the surge response is not “stalled” as The Australian has claimed and is being rolled out in partnership with the States and Territories as well as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.”
Front Page of the Australian this morning
“I’m sure you would agree that the increase in rates are disturbing and it’s critical that we tackle this challenge head on to ensure the problems do not escalate to a crisis point,” Senator Smith told Senator Scullion in December 2016.
When contacted yesterday about the letter, Senator Scullion shifted blame for the government’s inaction to Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt.
Senator Scullion’s spokesman told The Australian he passed Senator Smith’s letter on to the “health portfolio”.
The letter, addressed to Senator Scullion and copied to Mr Wyatt and former health minister Sussan Ley, outlined a detailed proposal drafted by experts James Ward and Frank Bowden, in consultation with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, to tackle a syphilis epidemic in indigenous communities.
Professor Ward yesterday confirmed he had meetings with Senator Scullion, Mr Wyatt and Health Minister Greg Hunt about his policy proposal. The Ward-Bowden policy was drafted following meetings with Ms Ley.
Six children have died from gestational syphilis since the epidemic emerged in north Queensland in 2011 and later spread to the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia.
The government sat on the $25m policy until last November when it agreed to adopt one third of it as part of an $8.8m plan to tackle the syphilis outbreak in central and northern Australia.
The two other elements of the proposed three-year program — to reduce HIV risks and broader STI risks in Aboriginal communities — were rejected.
Since announcing the watered-down policy, the government has failed to rollout the program despite bureaucrats holding meetings about its implementation since August, before its funding was signed off by Mr Wyatt.
Mr Wyatt said yesterday the rollout would begin in Cairns and Darwin in May. He said the syphilis outbreak was an “absolute priority” and had been targeted on a national basis since 2015 but more funding was needed because the states had not contained it.
“This is why the Chief Medical Officer is leading a nationally co-ordinated enhanced response to the outbreak in conjunction with states and territories who have the primary role for delivering sexual health services and dealing with infectious disease outbreaks,” Mr Wyatt said.
Professor Ward said adopting only a third of the policy would reduce its efficacy and cost the community more money to address the problem in the long term.
“We put it to them in December 2016 and they still haven’t rolled out any of it. I don’t mean to make any judgment about whether they are dragging their heels or not,” Professor Ward said.
Olga Havnen, chief executive of the Darwin-based Danila Dilba health service, said she was consulted on Professor Ward’s policy and expressed anger it had not been adopted in full.
“It is obscene, it is ridiculous. If you are going to tackle STIs then it would have made sense to do a comprehensive response,” she said. “This is a preventable disease and, I can tell you now, if this was happening in the major suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne there would have been urgent and immediate action.”
Retired Aboriginal magistrate Sue Gordon, who chaired the Howard government’s Northern Territory intervention taskforce, said it was about time state and federal governments took the issue seriously.
Labor indigenous senator Pat Dodson said: “The government has not taken the outbreak seriously enough and have not taken appropriate action to tackle the outbreak, otherwise we would not be in this situation.”
Part 2 **CORRECTION**
Minister for Indigenous Affairs Senator the Hon. Nigel Scullion
Correction to incorrect reporting in The Australian newspaper
Thursday 15 March 2018
Today’s Australian article by Greg Brown, Sex disease warning ignored, incorrectly states I ignored a letter by Senator Dean Smith in December 2016 regarding a plan to tackle increasing rates of Sexually Transmissible Infections (STIs) in the Indigenous population.
This is grossly misleading and entirely incorrect. I did not ignore Senator Smith’s letter or the request contained in it but referred it to the Indigenous Health portfolio as the relevant and appropriate portfolio with responsibility for Indigenous Health issues. I responded to Senator Smith on this basis.
Notwithstanding that States and Territories have primary responsibility for delivering sexual health services and dealing with infectious disease outbreaks, the Minister for Indigenous Health announced a nationally coordinated surge response in November last year to address the rising rates of STIs in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
The Minister for Indigenous Health, Ken Wyatt, has confirmed that the surge response is not “stalled” as The Australian has claimed and is being rolled out in partnership with the States and Territories as well as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.
Questions about the status of the surge response or the proposal referred to in this article should be referred to the Department of Health, as is appropriate.
To suggest however that I ignored any warnings regarding the protection of human life is absolutely repugnant and appalling and I reject any such assertion unequivocally.
This is yet another example of ill-informed and incorrect reporting of Indigenous issues by The Australian newspaper.
” Indigenous organisations have called out comments by politicians and media who have linked STI rates among Indigenous children to abuse without substantial evidence.
The federal Children’s Minister David Gillespie was quoted in News Corporation paper the Courier Mail saying he was shocked by the rates of sexually transmitted diseases amongst Indigenous children and appeared to link the rates to abuse.”
Media reports linking STI rates to the abuse of children without evidence have come under fire from Indigenous community leaders and organisations. By Robert Burton-Bradley, Elliana Lawford see part 1 Below
” The debates in response to news coming out of Tennant Creek and about high STI rates in underage children have splintered. A narrow debate has centred primarily on whether or not to ‘remove children who have suffered’,” the statement said.
“Child abuse in any form, such as we have seen in Tennant Creek, requires that perpetrators must be brought to account in accordance with the law. Plus, it is important to help bring about appropriate responses, but those responses need to come in close consultation with Aboriginal people and organisations. Depicting our leaders as silent or ‘uninterested’ about what is happening in Aboriginal communities is not only counterproductive, but malicious.”
It is highly offensive and ignorant to link any form of child abuse with being acceptable in Aboriginal culture.” – National Congress
Download the Congress Press Release HERE
Shared Responsibility
We have a shared responsibility to ensure the rights of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child to be safe and thrive in their families, communities and cultures. To achieve this, Closing the Gap targets should be expanded to:
ensure our children’s safety by including an additional target to eliminate the over-representation of our children in out-of-home care by 2040, sub-targets that address the underlying causes of child protection intervention; and
foster our children’s wellbeing and development by strengthening the current target on education to eliminate the under-representation of our 0 to 5-year-old children in early childhood education and care services by 2040
“Debates facilitated by the wrong people does little more than stir up emotions and reinforce negative stereotypes rather than focus on solutions.
Sexual abuse, child protection and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among children are challenging topics to discuss. They are emotive issues for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike.
The current debate we are hearing however, is unhealthy and unhelpful.”
Mr Gillespie acknowledged there may be concerns about creating another Stolen Generation, but says he’s more worried about creating an “abandoned and damaged generation”.
“I don’t want them recycled back into harm. I’ve had my eyes opened in the last couple of weeks … looking at STD rates (among Aboriginal children) is just mind-blowing,” he was quoted as saying.
“If a child is being raped we can’t just say it’s OK on cultural grounds.”
Federal Labor Senator for the Northern Territory and Yanyuwa woman Malarndirri Mccarthy told NITV News said politicians needed to be careful in the language they used.
“I think in terms of where this debate is going, I would remind political leaders that the language they use is important, absolutely critical here in making sure that other families, particularly here in the Northern Territory don’t feel vilified by particular comments which are just not helpful,” she said.
“The care and protection of Aboriginal children is everyone’s business — to isolate it to race is absolutely wrong and sets a very dangerous precedent for where our country is going if these debates are purely focused on the colour of your skin.”
The Courier Mail article this morning claimed Mr Gillespie was in favour of ‘white families’ being allowed to adopt Aboriginal child abuse victims, something they can already do in certain circumstances.
However, Mr Gillespie later told SBS News he was taken out of context and that he wanted more adoptions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.
“I’ve never looked at life through the prism of race or culture,” he said.
Tennant creek has become the epicenter over a renewed attempt to link child abuse and Indigenous communities and calls for more child removals.
This morning in a statement, the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples said the claims by the minister and certain sections of the media, saying that STI rates were a result of abuse were wrong and had echoes of the NT Intervention.
Ms McCarthy said there were many reasons for STI infections and for reporters to assume they were because of abuse was naive and dangerous.
“That kind of reporting is very irresponsible if you are not speaking to the frontline health workers, to the Aboriginal community organisations, health organisations, which will be to explain in many circumstances the reason behind many particular rates of STIs,” she said.
National Congress said Indigenous communities and organisations were well aware of the issues in remote communities and had been working to resolve them, but pointed out that since the intervention that job had been made much harder.
“These peak organisations are aware of what is happening on the ground within Aboriginal communities in urban, regional and remote communities. Leaders from these organisations can never be said to be silent on child abuse, poor health and family breakdown. They are tireless advocates.”
“Aboriginal control of our own communities and the services in those communities have been greatly diminished. Appalling housing, health, education and employment statistics tell us that many Aboriginal people are experiencing great stress and hardship. They are struggling to take control of their lives.”
Additional reporting AAP
Part 2 Debate
“Debates facilitated by the wrong people does little more than stir up emotions and reinforce negative stereotypes rather than focus on solutions.
Sexual abuse, child protection and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among children are challenging topics to discuss. They are emotive issues for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike.
The current debate we are hearing however, is unhealthy and unhelpful.”
Summer May Finlay is a Yorta Yorta woman, academic, writer and a public health consultant. Summer has worked in a number of different areas relating to Aboriginal health and social justice including a term as a NACCHO Policy Officer Follow Summer @OnTopicAus
This morning, I woke to the continuation of a national debate about the need to place Indigenous children with white families because of sexual abuse. Twitter soon became aghast with the all-white panel Sunrise convened to discuss the Federal Assistant Minister for Children and Families David Gillespie’s comments about placing Indigenous children with non-Indigenous families.
Sexual abuse, child protection and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among children are challenging topics to discuss. They are emotive issues for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike. The current debate we are hearing however, is unhealthy and unhelpful.
Gillespie has used the rates of STIs among young Indigenous people to justify his claims that the guidelines that that urge child protection agencies to place Indigenous children with Indigenous families, be relaxed.
To discuss the matter – ‘white families should be allowed to adopt Aboriginal children’ – Channel 7’s popular breakfast program brought together an entire non-Indigenous panel, none of whom had any experience or expertise in child protection matters or in Indigenous affairs.
What the panellists, Prue MacSween and Ben Davis (4GB) failed to mention was some of the most relevant information on the issue – there is a tenuous link between STIs and child abuse.
As a nation, is the solution to remove these young people from their families or should we be looking at why they are having sex at a young age, and why – as is evident – that they are not protecting themselves?
Most young Indigenous people with STIs are over the age of 14. And most Indigenous people 14 years + contract STIs from having sex with their peers. As a nation, is the solution to remove these young people from their families or should we be looking at why they are having sex at a young age, and why – as is evident – that they are not protecting themselves?
Not only is the justification of removing Indigenous children with STIs questionable, but Sunrise’s panel made sensationalist and frankly incorrect claims that Indigenous children are currently not placed with white families.
Not only is the justification of removing Indigenous children with STIs questionable, but Sunrise’s panel made sensationalist and frankly incorrect claims that Indigenous children are currently not placed with white families.
A quick Google search would have demonstrated the error of this belief.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) figures show that 68 per cent of Indigenous children are placed in the care of Indigenous people, which logic tells you then that the remaining 32 per cent must be with non-Indigenous families.
With British and Irish being the most common ancestries in the Australian population, this further suggests that Aboriginal children are currently in care with some “white families”.
In the case of adoption of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory (the region of these STI figures), government legislation makes clear that while adoption of Aboriginal children by other Aboriginal persons is given preference – as is placing the child with extended family or family in accordance with Aboriginal law – it does not rule out adoption by non-Indigenous families.
These legal principles have created on behalf of the devastating affects of the past that separated children from their families, communities and culture – not as Mr Davis puts it, “political correct nonsense”.
Sunrise would do itself a favour by at least hosting panellists who actually know what they are talking about, unless of course they don’t want facts to get in the way of a good story.
Not only are the claims children are only being placed with Indigenous families untrue, The Courier Mail’s reporting that Gillespie says Indigenous children should be placed with “white families”.
Does that mean only white Australian families are good enough, or can be trusted, to take care of Indigenous children? Adding another level to an already shaky structure, this Anglocentric view is a distraction from the real issues.
Such a publicised debate facilitated by the wrong people does little more than stir up emotions and reinforce negative stereotypes rather than focus on solutions.
So what are the real issues here? There are some Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and other jurisdictions where STIs have reached endemic proportions. This is troubling, and action needs to be taken. However, this is not the case across all Indigenous communities and such a publicised debate facilitated by the wrong people does little more than stir up emotions and reinforce negative stereotypes rather than focus on solutions.
According to the AIHW, 50 per cent of Indigenous children who are removed from their families come from the lowest socio-economic brackets, with the main reason for removal, neglect. Demonstrating what has been widely researched and reported on, that neglect and poverty are linked.
However, even addressing only the symptoms (neglect and abuse), removing Aboriginal children from their families and communities wouldn’t bring the significant change required to assist our young people to lead healthy, happy lives.
To reduce STIs we need to focus on access to health services, diagnosis and treatment of STIs, health literacy, needs-based funding and sexual health education.
To reduce Indigenous children in out of home care we need investment in early intervention programs with at risk families and address poverty. A wealthy country like Australia should be focusing on eradicating poverty, not whether enough Indigenous children are being placed with white families.
Media sensationalism does little for Indigenous people and is more about the white saviour mentality. We need politicians to look beyond the surface to the root causes. We need cool heads and community driven solutions.
1.Would your ACCHO health service like to trial a pharmacist in your health care team ?
Closing date for the Expressions of Interest is 20th March 2018
We are now seeking Expressions of Interest in the Integrating Pharmacists within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to improve Chronic Disease Management (IPAC) project.
This is a large project that will investigate if including a non-dispensing practice pharmacist as part of the primary health care team within Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHSs) leads to improvements in the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It will involve up to 22 ACCHSs invited to participate in the project from three jurisdictions- Queensland, Victoria, and the Northern Territory. The project will provide funding and support for the pharmacist to be embedded within an ACCHS.
The project aims to benefit the ACCHS sector by providing the evidence-base to better support quality use of medicines through integrated care models.
The pharmacist will provide education and shared decision making for patients and staff on appropriate medicines for people with chronic conditions.
Having a culturally responsive pharmacist integrated into ACCHSs should enable the building of relationships and trust between pharmacists, patients, ACCHS staff and the community.
This should ultimately improve medicines use and health for ACCHS patients who agree to be part of this project.
The IPAC project is a partnership between the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), James Cook University (College of Medicine and Dentistry) the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and its state Affiliates.
The Australian Government under the Pharmacy Trials Program of the 6th Community Pharmacy Agreement has funded the project.
Yours sincerely,
Pat Turner – NACCHO CEO
To express an interest please complete this quick scoping survey:
ACCHSs will be offered site agreements from April for gradual roll out of Pharmacists mid year
Closing date for the Expressions of Interest is 20th March 2018
For further information please contact NACCHO IPAC Project Coordinators ipac@naccho.org.au
Alice Nugent 0439873723 and Fran Vaughan 0417826617
2. Close the Gap Day March 15, 2018
Everyone deserves the right to a healthy future and the opportunities this afford. We are very lucky to live in a rich country with a universal health system.
However, many of Australia’s First Peoples are denied the same access to healthcare that non-Indigenous Australians take for granted. Despite a decade of Government promises the gap in health and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other Australians is widening.
This National Close the Gap Day, we have an opportunity to send our governments a clear message that Australians value health equality as a fundamental right for all.
On National Close the Gap Day we encourage you to host an activity in you workplace, home, community or school.
The aim? To bring people together, to share information — and most importantly — to take meaningful action in support of achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030.
If you register on or after March 9th it is unlikely you will receive your pack in time. But don’t worry, you can download all the resources online.
On National Close the Gap Day 2017, there were more than 1100 separate events held across the country from the tip of Cape York to Southern Tasmania, and from Rottnest Island in West Australia to towns along Australia’s east coast.
With events ranging from workplace morning teas, to sports days, school events and public events in hospitals and offices around the country — tens of thousands of people took part and made a difference.
Your actions can create lasting change. Be part of the generation who closes the gap.
What is Close the Gap?
Equal access to healthcare is a basic human right, and in Australia we expect it. So what if we told you that you can expect to die a decade earlier than your next-door neighbour? You wouldn’t accept it. No-one should.
But in reality, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People can expect to live 10 years less than non-Indigenous Australians. Learn more about why the health gap exists.
Working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is one of the critical success factors. With continued support from the public, we can ensure the Australian Government continues to work with Indigenous communities, recommit additional funding and invest in real partnerships.
” The varying incidence of sexually transmitted infections in the Aboriginal populations in remote Australia presents a number of challenges to the Australian health system.
The identification of persons with STIs is not straightforward — and sometimes extremely difficult — in remote areas.
The diseases range from rare and difficult to treat, to endemic and even more difficult to treat. Those that are easy to treat remain a problem because of the ways in which the infectious burden develops in these populations.
These are difficult, long-term issues that only a few dedicated services are tackling.
These services are not helped by prurient and muddled media interest, the Aboriginal men and women who for their own reasons deny the existence of these problems and retreat to life-threatening but comfortable slogans, and least of all, the negligence of successive governments whose responsible leaders have responded too slowly and with too few resources for an effective response by the frontline workers.”
Marcia Langton is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Australian Indigenous Studies, at the University of Melbourne.
Three animated education and awareness videos focus on HIV, STIs and PrEP (a daily medication that can prevent HIV), which aim to enhance awareness of HIV prevention. These are housed on the website www.atsihiv.org.au,
It is wrong to conflate the incidence of STIs with sexual abuse. To make this clear: it is not the case that all cases of STIs in minors are the result of sexual contact or abuse.
The rush to recommend removal of Aboriginal children from their families is an unwarranted response, and has become the catchcry of those building their careers on serious health issues that have become salacious fodder for the media and very significant threats to developing protocols for treating these continuing disease threats to extremely vulnerable people.
The question of whether to remove children is secondary to the question of immediate medical treatment.
Ascertaining how the STIs are being spread — by interviewing children — is the work of professionals and needs to be undertaken with caution and care.
Some proportion of the sexual activity involves only children and not adults. When only children are involved, different steps need to be taken.
When adults are involved in sexual activities with children, a different set of steps must be undertaken. Is the adult offender living in the household? Visiting the household? In what circumstances does the offender gain access to the child?
It would be ridiculous to have a one-size-fits-all approach to this very difficult problem. Medicos working in the Territory under the Northern Territory Emergency Response schemes were well aware of these problems but unable to speak because of the issues of confidentiality of patients and maintaining the confidence of patients and communities to present to clinics.
The rates of STIs among Aboriginal children in the NT must be treated as a medical matter for professionals. In the absence of a Centre for Disease Control (as recommended by the Australian Medical Association), the Office of Health Protection in the federal Department of Health has some responsibility for communicable diseases.
If I were in a responsible position, I would ask the Office of Health Protection to co-operate with the Aboriginal medical services bodies, such as Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and the Northern Territory and Queensland health departments, and put together medical teams to test and treat Aboriginal children in the affected areas in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia.
All children in school should have sex education and STI education, and the educational material should be in their own languages. They and their parents need to be aware of the consequences of untreated STIs: infertility, mortality, brain damage and others. Other infectious diseases, such as trachoma, have been treated with similar approaches involving better co-ordination of existing services.
The federal, Northern Territory and Queensland governments are negligent in the extreme in allowing this situation to worsen over the past 10 years. It has been reported regularly and extensively in the past decade by medical professionals from various health entities, including the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, and the responsible ministers and officers run for cover rather than taking the necessary steps to treat children for these diseases.
In this context, I have previously said that the complaints from some Aboriginal male leaders about being labelled universally as abusers should be ignored and the complicity of the indigenous sector in protecting their sensitivities and strange complaints that result should also be ignored.
If they had taken positions of protecting children rather than outrage at John Howard’s nasty and ridiculous blame game in 2007, we would not have the increased rates (also greatly under-reported) that are reported now.
Blatant denialism has contributed to this terrible situation.
Marcia Langton is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Australian Indigenous Studies, at the University of Melbourne.
