Site icon NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News

12 March 2024

Brooke Roff

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.

‘Toughness, humour and grace’: Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue farewelled at powerful state memorial

WARNING: This article contains the name and image of an Aboriginal person who has passed.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leader, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG was farewelled at an emotional state funeral on Kaurna Country. Hundreds gathered to honour the Yankunytjatjara woman at St Peter’s Cathedral in North Adelaide on Friday. The memorial was opened by Uncle Moogy Sumner, along with Jakirah Telfer and a yidaki player. Ms Telfer, a Kaurna woman, gave an emotional speech and thanked Dr O’Donoghue for believing in her.

“I want to thank her for believing in us young people,” she said.

“She was our owl. To those who don’t know, the owl [means] wisdom. It’s always there when it needs to be and our nation needed her.”

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said while Dr O’Donoghue was “proud of being first” she was “determined not to be the last”.

“When Dr O’Donoghue opened a door, she held it open for all who followed,” he said.

“She made history but her focus was on giving people a future. She wanted to be the first of many.”

Read more here.

Image source: Lowitja Institute

New birthing program to help mothers face challenges of early-childhood

A birthing program in far-north Queensland is helping to empower local families in the absence of local birthing facilities in the region. The 1,000 days program in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) is designed to mitigate the difficulties faced by mothers when they are separated from Community, which can lead to financial, social and psychological challenges. Delivered by NPA Family and Community Services (NPAFACS), the 1,000 days program acknowledges the vital importance of the first period of a child’s life, and the challenges to the mother, child, family and community that go with this. It is designed to help form strong family units to give babies and children a healthy start to life.

“One of the things we do up here is love our children and we strive to build strong families, often against ongoing barriers like enough housing, high unemployment, and cost of living,” said project manager Ugari Nona.

“When we saw the application to be part of the First 1,000 Days initiative, we were really excited as it would give us additional resourcing to ensure mothers, children, dads, and families had someone watching out for them and linking them to resources in those early days from birth to a child’s second birthday.”

She said the 1,000 days program reached out to communities, eventually hearing from more than 60 women and their experiences. This included the contexts that have helped them, and their children thrive, or the challenges and difficulties imposed on them. The program then heard from the fathers and the challenges faced by them during the early days of fatherhood. These experiences allowed NPAFACS to learn about what was going well for families, from pregnancy to the child’s second birthday, and what could be improved.

“One of our strongest findings is the importance of sustaining women’s connection to each other during pregnancy and birth, and one of the strongest desires of women is that we may one day be able to birth our babies in the NPA,” Ms Nona said.

NPAFACS will soon launch a visitor program, where Indigenous health workers from the NPA will be able to visit women and children.

Read the National Indigenous Times article here.

NPAFACS Program Manager Health Projects Ugari Nona. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

Fostering the sexual well-being of young people

What we do well: stories of love, sex and relationships focuses on the positive actions Aboriginal young people take to reduce their sexual risk and build sexual wellbeing, and describes the social, cultural and personal strength and resources that they draw on to do so. The project seeks to change the narrative about Aboriginal young people’s sexual health, from one focused on deficit and problems, to one focused on strengths and resourcefulness.

The findings reported are based on in-depth interviews with 51 young people and 16 adults. The research found that young participants drew on pride in culture and Aboriginal identity to build positive identities for themselves as strong and deserving of respectful and safe relationships. The report recommends including narratives of pride and strength in identity and culture in sexual health messaging, as well as the development of sexual health education that is “more than science” and includes discussions about respect, consent and how to communicate positively about sex.

Shame was identified by both young people and adults as a main barrier for talking about sex and relationships. It is recommended to further build on messages that address feelings of shame about sex, understanding that shame is racislised, gendered and generationally different, and that narratives of pride and strength are working to counter feelings of shame in communities.

To deliver messaging, findings suggest that the ‘real-life’ experience and knowledge of family, Elders and peers was highly valued, and it will be beneficial to develop health promotion, education and intervention for adults and parents to build skills in communicating with young people about sex and relationships.

To read the full report, go here.

Image source: CKN website.

Help shape the future of male health

Help shape the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander male health, by completing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male health services and programs survey. The survey aims to collect nationwide service level and community level engagement data. Findings will be distributed back to health services who participate and shared nationally in a report later this year.

This online survey was developed with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male health reference group. It is a part of a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health project together with Flinders University NT.

The survey is now open and will close on Monday 1 April at 11:59pm.

To complete the survey, go here.

Image source: Healthy Male.

$4 billion remote housing fund for NT

The Federal and Northern Territory governments have announced a joint $4 billion dollar investment for housing in remote communities across the NT. In a joint statement the federal and NT governments said the 10-year commitment to improve remote housing will see up to 270 homes built each year, “with the goal of halving overcrowding”. It also includes continued support for repairs and maintenance.

“As the Local Member for one of the Territory’s most remote electorates, I have seen firsthand the impact of better housing for those who were living in chronically overcrowded homes with 20 or more people in one dwelling,” said Northern Territory Minister for Remote Housing and Homelands Selena Uibo.

“This investment will go a long way towards continuing our Territory Labor government quest for better homes and improved health, education, employment and social outcomes.”

The NT and federal governments said that in addition to supporting improved housing outcomes, the “unprecedented investment” announced Tuesday will also create local employment opportunities and support the sustainability of Aboriginal Business Enterprises.

Read the full National Indigenous Times article here.

Minister Selena Uibo with two residents of recently completed housing in the NT. 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.

World Glaucoma Week – 10 – 16 March 2024

World Glaucoma Week is a global initiative organised by the World Glaucoma Association. Patients, eye care providers, health officials and the public are invited to join forces in organising awareness activities worldwide. Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness, and distinct challenges may be present in different regions of the world. The goal of World Glaucoma Week is to alert everyone to have regular eye and optic nerve checks to detect glaucoma as early as possible because there are available treatments for all forms of glaucoma to prevent visual loss.

This year’s theme Uniting for a Glaucoma-Free World focuses on bringing communities worldwide to fight together against glaucoma blindness. Everyone is encouraged to become involved, be a part of the activities organised over the globe, and help us raise awareness worldwide and learn more about glaucoma.

You can read about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare paper Eye health measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2023 available here.

You can find more information about World Glaucoma Week on the World Glaucoma Association website here.

Free, specialised governance workshops for ACCHOs will be delivered in multiple locations across the country during 2024 and 2025. 

Registrations are open now for Sydney and Perth:  

The program is delivered by legal experts and covers:  

To register, go here.

For more information, please contact NACCHO using this email link.

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