• Australia’s rheumatic fever strategy three years on
• Dr Casey’s address to the World Congress on RHD
• SHPA calls for improved medicines access
• HTA policies and methods reform options survey
• Supporting People with Cancer grant round OPEN
• Sector Jobs
• Key Dates – WA Sexual Health Week – 12-18 February 2024

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.

Australia’s rheumatic fever strategy three years on

In a world first, NACCHO has partnered with the Australian Government to establish a community-led initiative to combat acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout Australia. In an article published today in the Medical Journal of Australia, Ms Pat Turner, CEO of NACCHO and Dr Dawn Casey, Deputy CEO NACCHO discuss how the partnership shifts power and decision-making to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community control.

Ms Turner and Dr Casey note that unprecedented levels of ARF in Aboriginal children were reported in the Medical Journal of Australia over 40 years ago, and the implementation of a comprehensive prevention system at a community level are long overdue. “Such a system is most effectively implemented through comprehensive community controlled primary health care firmly in the hands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” they wrote. “We know what needs to be done, and we know that it can be done.”

NACCHO has been instrumental in establishing the partnership, co-designing the national governance structure, appointing an RHD Expert Working Group, and co-chairing a national Joint Advisory Committee. “NACCHO is now responsible for dispersing over $30m in service enhancement grants to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and their community-controlled health services to address their local priorities, building on their own strengths and assigning resources to strategies they know will work,” NACCHO CEO Patricia Turner AM and Deputy CEO Dr Dawn Casey wrote in their perspective.

More than 15 ACCHOs have already secured funding to participate in the NACCHO program. The initiative came about as a result of the Australian Government’s commitment to eradicate ARF and RHD in Australia by 2031.

To view The Medical Journal of Australia article Australia’s rheumatic fever strategy three years on in full click here.

Dr Casey’s address to the World Congress on RHD

Last year Dr Dawn Casey, Deputy CEO NACCHO, addressed the World Congress on rheumatic heart disease (RHD), in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In her address Dr Casey explained that NACCHO is the national peak body for 145 ACCHOs that deliver comprehensive primary health care to over half of the Indigenous population in Australia. Dr Casey said that Australia’s earliest ACCHO predated the World Health Organization’s declaration on Alma Ata in 1978 and the ACCHO model continues to be acknowledged in multiple forums and in research as the best example of sustainable and equitable healthcare. The community-controlled health sector delivers 3,000,000 clinical episodes of care per year through its 550 clinics.

And there’s even more not so easily quantified in our community led population and public health work, including intersectoral partnerships and health promotion. We know the requirements for better health as a whole of community; self-determination and individual spiritual, cultural, physical, social and emotional well-being. Yet sadly, in a colonized country, disease rates not seen since 1900 in non-Indigenous populations are still commonplace in 2023 in our Indigenous peoples.

RHD is the greatest cause of cardiovascular inequity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and until recently was the leading cause of death, only just overtaken recently by cancer. RHD is the epitome of health gaps between our Indigenous peoples and other Australians. It spans from housing to primary care to open heart surgery. The Indigenous Peoples of Australia have the highest number of rheumatic heart disease in the world.

To view the transcript of Dr Casey’s address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in ARF and RHD: Priorities, Partnerships and Progress presented to the World Congress on Rheumatic Heart Disease on 3 November 2023 click here. You can also view Dr Casey’s presentation slides on NACCHO website ARF and RHD webpage here.

SPHA calls for improved medicines access

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) is calling for cost-effective solutions that enhance the efficiency and capacity of Australia’s healthcare system as part of its 2023–25 Federal Budget Submission, available here. Calling for investment across three key focus areas – medicines access, scope of practice, and workforce development and sustainability – SHPA’s recommendations aim to optimise patient care, improve medication safety, and provide equitable and affordable access to medicines for all Australians.

SHPA President Tom Simpson says hospital pharmacists, skilled in providing clinical pharmacy services, can provide cost-effective healthcare solutions by limiting medication wastage, reducing medication-related harms, optimising medication use; as well as decreasing patient length of stay in hospital and hospital readmissions. “The value of clinical pharmacy services is well-established in the literature, with an Australian economic analysis indicating a $23 return for every $1 invested in clinical pharmacy services. Pharmacists can alleviate pressures on our medical colleagues by working to their full scope of practice which can itself translate to significant cost benefits. For example, recent research has shown that the health system can reduce admission lengths by ~10% and save $726 each time a patient receives care through the Partnered Pharmacist Medication Charting (PPMC) model.”

“Pharmacy technicians also working to their full scope of practice through more efficient inpatient medication management systems and assisting in clinical support roles, enable pharmacists and nursing staff to spend more of their time delivering direct patient care and other clinical activities, improving patient outcomes and health system efficiency. We are therefore calling for our skilled workforce to be fully harnessed so that the Federal Government can better mitigate unnecessary health costs and optimise patient care for all Australians.”

To view the SHPA media release Harnessing workforce and improving medicines access key to optimising care for all Australians click here.

HTA policies and methods reform options survey

Access to the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Review Consultation 2 online survey is now available on the Office of Health Technology Assessment Consultation Hub, here. The survey will allow stakeholders to provide feedback on the Options Paper prepared by the HTA Review Reference Committee including:

• whether proposed option/s will achieve intended outcomes
• what the potential impact on stakeholders may be
• any unintended outcomes or challenges stemming from the proposed options

The Reference Committee will consider responses to Consultation 2, as well as the evidence and input it has received throughout the HTA Review, before finalising its recommendations to the Government by 15 April 2024. Responses to Consultation 2 will be accepted up to 23:30 AEDT on Friday 23 February 2024.

If you have any questions or concerns relating to the HTA Review or Consultation 2, please email the HTA Review Consultation using this email address.

Supporting People with Cancer grant round OPEN

A new round of funding to support Australians living with cancer opened on 18 January 2024 with the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy announcing the latest Supporting People with Cancer (SPWC) Grant initiative. The Australian Government, through Cancer Australia, is inviting grassroots community organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations working to improve outcomes for people affected by cancer to apply for grants of up to $120,000 each.

The SPWC Grant initiative, an annual program, aims to enhance support for individuals affected by cancer by promoting equity in cancer outcomes and experiences. This includes a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other priority population groups identified in the Australian Cancer Plan (ACP), available here.

Since 2005, the Australian Government has contributed over $11.5m to 137 community grants nationwide through the SPWC Grant initiative. Successful projects from the 2023 round tailored support for diverse population groups, such as Indigenous communities, regional and rural communities, children affected by cancer, LGBTQ+ people, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Full details of the funding are available at the Australian Government’s grant website GrantConnect here.

The deadline for submissions is Thursday 29 February 2024.

You can read Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy’s media release Grant applications now open for community and Indigenous organisations for funding to support people with cancer in full here.

Sector Jobs

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.

 

Key Dates – WA Sexual Health Week – 12–18 February 2024

WA Sexual Health Week (SHW) runs from Monday 12 February to Sunday 18 February in 2024. The theme of SHW this year is ‘Absolutely Everybody’, aiming to celebrate the right to sexual health for all people. This theme asks us to think creatively about how we can promote positive and respectful approaches to sexuality and sexual relationships while also creating supportive, inclusive, and safe spaces for everyone to achieve positive and enjoyable sexual health.

As part of SHW, WAAC is unpacking the following common myths about sex, to demonstrate how sexual health applies to Absolutely Everybody:

• Positive sexual health is only for people who have sex
• It’s only sex if there is penetration
• People living with HIV or other STIs can have sex without transmitting the STI to another person
• Condoms are the only way to have safer sex
• Not everyone is having sex
• STI testing is scary
• Being sex-positive means having lots of sex

You can find more information about WA Sexual Health Week 2024 and the common myths about sex listed above, on the WAAC’s website here.