Mar 16 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: 2023 CTG report calls for greater and faster change

2023 CTG report calls for greater and faster change
Early Years Strategy must focus on equity and justice
First podcast for mob with disability
Culture + Kinship program has positive outcomes
Scholarship helps Palm Is health worker follow dream
Pioneering Cape ear health program gaining traction
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is a photo taken by Lukas Coch/AAP published in The Guardian on 8 October 2020.

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.

2023 CTG report calls for greater and faster change

This years 2023 Close the Gap (CTG) Campaign Report was launched earlier today at the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council (AH&MRC) in Little Bay Sydney. The theme this year is, ‘Strong Culture, Strong Youth: Our Legacy Our Future’ which highlights the essential role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led decision-making and self-determination in shaping a vision of health and wellbeing built upon a strong cultural foundation.

You can download the report here and watch a video of the launch using this link. You can also watch a short ABC News video Close the Gap report calls for greater and faster change here.

A bit of history. . .

The CTG Campaign is an independent, Indigenous-led campaign that calls on political leaders from all levels of government to take action on health and life expectancy equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It is separate to Closing the Gap, which is an Australian Government strategy.

The CTG Campaign, launched in 2006 to address the unacceptable gap in life expectancy and other health indicators between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians, helped influence the establishment of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap, and the formation of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in July 2020.

The Campaign is made up of 52 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health, NGO and human rights organisations. More than 200,000 Australians have signed a pledge supporting the Campaign.

Early Years Strategy must focus on equity and justice

Experts in child and family health are developing submissions for the Federal Government’s new Early Years Strategy, which it says will “shape its vision for the future of Australia’s children and their families”. Among a number of groups who have shared their concerns and priorities the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is concerned the early focus of the strategy “does not demonstrate a health equity lens”. We note the verdict on that is mixed. The ACN points to the Discussion Paper’s aim that a national Strategy “will seek to ensure that all children, wherever they live, enjoy the same opportunities to learn, develop and thrive.”

The ACN says “this is not a health equity lens. Instead, it assumes all children, irrespective of class, culture and context, require the same opportunities. This ignores some of the children who need this most, like those children that have different abilities or grow up in specific cultural contexts like First Nations children.”

Maybe the Federal Government should also be turning a sharp eye on all the policies, programs and, of course, politics that are currently causing major harm to young people in Australia, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and/or threaten to further entrench inequity.

To view the Croakey Health Media article As governments entrench disadvantage, will Australia’s Early Years Strategy focus on equity and justice? in full click here.

First podcast for mob with disabilities

Having to learn how to walk and talk again after an incident left him in an induced coma, Bernard Namok, a proud St Paul, Badu, and Erub Torres Strait Islander man, is now advocating for Indigenous people living with disabilities in the Far North. Mr Namok is teaming up with the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) to help empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with a focus on giving a voice to the voiceless. Today, on National Closing the Gap Day, Mr Namok and the FPDN launched a first-ever podcast dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disabilities.

Mr Namok said one of the barriers facing people with disabilities from Indigenous communities is simply knowing what help is out there and how to access it. “Creating the podcast was about finding a way to get information to people who may be living in remote areas in places like Thursday Island where I grew up, as well as telling their stories,” he said

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that almost a quarter (24%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia living in households lived with a disability with 8.8% living with a profound or severe limitation.

The above story featured in the Herald Sun article First podcast for First Nations people with disabilities launches published earlier today.

Bernard has been working in disability advocacy in Cairns after previously working in radio broadcasting in the NT.

Culture + Kinship program has positive outcomes

Yesterday the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) launched the groundbreaking Culture + Kinship program evaluation report in the lead up to today’s National Close the Gap Day. VACCHO noted that last year’s Closing The Gap report data and the Coroners Court of Victoria suicide Report in February this year provided “unmistakable evidence” that the devastating gaps in health and wellbeing outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Victorians continue to blight health equality in Victoria.

VACCHO said its Culture + Kinship Report demonstrates that by focusing on the cultural determinants of health, “there are constructive approaches that can be taken to close the gaps in health and wellbeing disadvantage”. The report notes that through the Culture + Kinship program, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been able to re-connect with Community, Culture and Country.

VACCHO said “The Culture + Kinship program was uniquely Community driven with a flexible funding model that empowered Communities to lead the way with their own solutions in the form of self-determined, locally led programs.” VACCHO also said a social return on investment analysis showed the program “produced significant value for its stakeholders, with Community Members benefiting especially through reconnecting with Community, Culture and Country, and in doing so, experiencing a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes”.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Aboriginal-led Culture + Kinship program makes breakthroughs in health and wellbeing in full click here.

Budja Budja Yarning Circle

Scholarship helps Palm Is AHW realise dream

A young Indigenous woman awarded a scholarship to study nursing at Mater Private Hospital Townsville is realising a dream to follow in her family’s footsteps. “My grandma is a twin and she and her sister worked at Mater for many years as registered nurses,” said Tehanna Tanerau-Love, who works part-time as a health worker on Palm Island.

Ms Tanerau-Love, 20, a Yorta Yorta woman with Māori ties, said she had a number of great role models. “My other grandma is a CEO of an Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation and my sister is a social worker,” she said.

Ms Tanerau-Love said the Indigenous scholarship to study a Diploma of Nursing at Mater would help her connect with her community and provide the opportunity to give back to her mob. “My ultimate goal is to work in remote and rural Aboriginal communities to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives,” she said.

The above story featured yesterday in the Cairns Post article Palm Island health-worker Tehanna Tanerau-Love to become nurse at Mater Townsville.

Young North Queensland woman Tehanna Tanerau-Love has been awarded an Indigenous scholarship to study a Diploma of Nursing at Mater Private Hospital Townsville. Image source: Cairns Post.

Pioneering Cape ear health program gaining traction

The Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service Integrated Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) program, launched as a pilot in 2021 to target hearing problems in Cape York and the Torres Strait, is seeing exponential growth, with the number of patients seen almost doubling within 12 months.

The team includes a GP with specialist ENT training, a senior ENT nurse, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker, an audiologist and a speech pathologist who travel to 13 remote communities across the region. They treat both children and adults, predominantly for hearing issues, but also with other ear, nose and throat conditions. The team saw more than 1,300 patients during 2022, well up from the 861 seen in 2021.

A further $1.6m of state government funding has been committed to the program over 18 months which will allow for additional staff to support the huge growth. Senior audiologist Kristen Tregenza said she believed the project’s success was due to the culturally-appropriate service they were providing, with patients now seeking them out instead of learning about them via referral. She said most of the hearing conditions being seen and treated were caused by treatable ear infections. “It is well documented that remoteness, lower socio-economic living and all the things that come with that – access to nutritious foods, housing conditions, exposure to passive cigarette smoke – significantly increase the number of ear infections, severity and recovery time,” she said. “It is all preventable.”

To view the Cape York Weekly article Pioneering program launched in Cape gaining traction in full click here.

Kowanyama’s Naveen Accoom getting his ears tested by Dr Stephen Johnston as part of the successful ENT program. Image source: Cape York Weekly.

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.

Mar 15 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Genuine engagement needed over consultation

Genuine engagement needed over consultation
$32m+ for First Nations health research projects
Program to help teens get a good night’s sleep
Conference to examine rural health challenges
Scholarship opportunities for First Nations nurses
Sector Jobs
Key Date – Close the Gap Day

The image in the feature tile has been extracted from a YouTube video of NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills sharing her message on COIVD-19 and the vaccines in early 2021.

We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly.

Genuine engagement needed over consultation

The Australia and NZ School of Government’s (ANZSOG’s) 2023 First Nations Public Administration Conference, held earlier this month, focused on the importance of genuine engagement rather than consultation. Delegates supported a strengths-based approach to policy and programs which recognised First Nations knowledge and culture. The conference was divided into four sessions based around the priority reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. These were: formal partnerships and shared decision-making; building the First Nations community-controlled sector; transforming Government organisations, and shared data and access to information.

Chair of the NACCHO, Donnella Mills told the conference that Governments needed to recognise they did not have the answers, and that Indigenous people would “work harder than anyone else to take care of our people”. She said structural reform was needed to change the way power was distributed. “If the National Agreement on Closing the Gap isn’t on your desk; if you can’t rattle off the priority reforms, if your Agency hasn’t resourced it — you need to lean in, and quickly. We are now in a new way of operating,” Ms Mills said.

The conference featured more than 20 First Nations speakers who discussed the transformation that was happening in First Nations policy. They outlined how approaches that included First Nations knowledge, perspectives and values could serve the wider public and First Nations interests — and how Governments needed to change to better serve First Nations communities.

To view the PS News article ANZSOC conference backs PS Indigenous in full click here.

portrait shots of John Paterson, AMSANT CEO & Robert Skeen, AH&MRC CEO

AMSANT CEO John Paterson and AH&MRC CEO Robert Skeen, were both speakers on Day Two of the conference. Image sources: ANZSOG website and AH&MRC website.

$32m+ for First Nations health research projects

Through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), nearly 200 ground-breaking medical research projects will share in more than $382m in grants, including more than $32m to improve First Nations health. The projects will help Australia’s outstanding medical researchers, including clinician researchers, discover new ways to diagnose, treat and care for people with a variety of health conditions. They will also support early and mid-career researchers and give more Australians access to clinical trials.

Research projects on cardiovascular disease, primary and preventive health care, respiratory diseases, maternal health, mental health and First Nations health, will receive funding to progress important work.

Two innovative First Nations-led projects to receive funding are:

University of Newcastle – $2m – Gulibaa (Coolamon) Project
This will be a co-designed model of care supporting Aboriginal mothers across NSW to be smoke-free in pregnancy and beyond. The project will co-design, embed in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and evaluate a group-based smoking cessation program.

The Sax Institute – $1.5m – Healthy Ageing for Aboriginal people
This project will evaluate the implementation and uptake of prevention programs to support healthy ageing amongst Aboriginal people. The Institute will collaborate with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services which run holistic and culturally safe preventive healthy ageing programs for their communities.

Of the 193 projects funded, 19 grants worth more than $32.3m are related to First Nations health and a further 13 grants worth more than $16.9m are related to mental health.

To view the Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care’s media release Nearly $400 million for exceptional medical research projects including projects to improve First Nations health in full click here.

Image sources: SBS; Aged Care Online website; Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

Program to help teens get a good night’s sleep

Karen Chong is the world’s first Indigenous sleep coach. “We are the people of the Dreamtime with the oldest continuing culture shaped by dreams, which is why I became a sleep coach and I want to train others,” she said. Mother of seven and grandmother of 10 Ms Chong, a Waanyi Garawa Gangalida woman, knows all too well how much harder parenting can be if your kids aren’t sleeping properly. “If they weren’t having a proper night’s sleep, they were waking up cranky and moody and it affects their eating too,” she said. “The biggest issue I’ve had with my two girls is that they want to stay up all night on their phones – if you’re a parent you’ll know what kids are like.”

The University of Queensland and Beyond Blue have partnered to deliver culturally responsive sleep health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents in Queensland. Project lead Associate Professor Yaqoot Fatima from UQ’s Poche Centre for Indigenous Health said Indigenous teens experience up to twice the rates of poor sleep as other adolescents. “Poor sleep can be caused by medical conditions like sleep apnoea and restless leg syndrome, or behavioural issues such as an irregular bedtime, late nights, and not getting enough sleep,” she said.

“Indigenous adolescents sleep better when they feel connected to their culture, which is why this program is important.” The 10-week Sleep for Strong Souls program is holding workshops with more than a hundred 12-18-year-olds in north and western Queensland communities.

To view the Kyabram Free Press article Indigenous sleep coach wants a score of 40 winks all in full click here.

ATSI teenage school kids looking at table of Sleep for Strong Souls program resources with coach

The Sleep for Strong Souls program is aiming to help Indigenous teenagers get a good night’s sleep. Image source: Kyabram Free Press.

Conference to examine rural health challenges

The challenges facing the rural health system are well-documented and well-known: difficulty attracting and retaining staff, fewer resources, lack of access to services, and building capacity and resilience in times of disaster and emergency. The 2023 Shoalhaven Rural Health Research Conference aims to unpack many of these issues, and more, while focusing on how to improve rural health services through collaboration, research and innovation.

The inaugural, nation-wide conference will be held at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Shoalhaven Campus on Saturday 18 March 2023 with a theme of Connection and Capacity Building. Associate Professor Marlene Longbottom ,a proud Yuin woman from Roseby Park (Jerrinja) Mission in the Shoalhaven, will deliver the keynote address, titled ‘Connection and Country’.

As Principal Research Fellow at the Ngarruwan Ngadju First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre at UOW, Associate Professor Longbottom has worked extensively in the health and human services sector with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from urban, regional and remote areas of New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. The keynote address will be followed by a series of workshops on the rural health and research landscape, hosted by UOW academics and primary healthcare professional across the fields of dietetics and nutrition, nursing, medicine and Indigenous health.

To view the University of Wollongong Australia article Inaugural conference to examine acute challenges facing rural health system in full click here.

portrait of Associate Professor Marlene Longbottom, University of Wollongong

Associate Professor Marlene Longbottom. Image source: LinkedIn.

Scholarship opportunities for First Nations nurses

As part of the Australian College of Nursing’s (ACN) commitment to advancing the nursing profession, the ACN Foundation has just released scholarships, grants and awards exclusively available to First Nations nurses to advance their nursing careers. Applications for the below scholarships are now open:

Graduate Certificate Nursing Scholarship, Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies – 20 scholarships are available for registered nurses to undertake selected ACN Graduate Certificate courses including Cancer Nursing, Community and Primary Health Care Nursing, Critical Care Nursing, Digital Health, Leadership and Management, Orthopaedic Nursing or Perioperative Nursing. Of the twenty available, five scholarships will be allocated to First Nations nurses and five will be allocated to nurses working in rural and remote areas of Australia.

Graduate Certificate Scholarships for First Nations nurses, Sponsored by HESTA – two scholarships are available for First Nations registered nurses to complete an ACN Graduate Certificate course of their choice out of ACN’s Graduate Certificate in Leadership and Management, Aged Care Nursing, Perioperative Nursing, Critical Care Nursing or Community and Primary Health Care Nursing, commencing in July 2023.

If you are not at a career stage to apply for a postgraduate nursing scholarship, discover ACN’s scholarships for undergraduates, nursing leadership courses, research and more on their website here.

Applications close 11:59 PM AEDT – Monday 3 April 2023. To apply click here.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

National Close the Gap Day

National Close the Gap Day is being held tomorrow, Thursday 16 March 2023, to raise community awareness about health inequalities facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In the SBS News – News in Depth broadcast Health differences for First Nations people targets on Close the Gap Day,available here, Karl Briscoe, CEO of the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP) said “we believe the Close the Gap campaign priority reform areas are the biggest areas that will get the better gains that are required to close the gap”. Mr Briscoe said First Nations people must have access to appropriate housing, he said that with “Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) a fix that can be done straight away is adequate housing, we know that overcrowding is a huge component of RHD being prevalent within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and it is really quite solvable by having adequate housing.”

In this broadcast, Dr Thalia Anthony, University of Sydney Law Professor commented on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap target of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and young people not being overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

banner SBS News, News in Depth, text: Health differences for First Nations people targeted on Close the Gap Day; image of Uni of Sydney Law Professor Thalia Anthony

University of Sydney Law Professor Thalia Anthony. Image source: SBS News.

Mar 14 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Closing the gap in preterm birth rates

Closing the gap in preterm birth rates
Karlie one of growing number of Aboriginal doctors
Healing walk to honour those lost to suicide
Healthy food in remote NT a priority
AMA urges action to save patients on PBS medicines
Breakthrough partnership to benefit remote communities
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is from an article GLU test expands to benefit Aboriginal mothers published on the Women & Infants Research Foundation website.

We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly. The content included in these new stories are not necessarily NACCHO endorsed.

Closing the gap in preterm birth rates

Rates of early birth continue to disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island women and their newborns. Recent Closing the Gap data showed that the official target for healthy birthweights for babies has gone from being “on track” to “not on track”. Now, an innovative preterm birth prevention program led out of the NT is taking aim at this unacceptable disparity and the hope is that it will provide “a roadmap for improved outcomes” for all First Nations women and their children. Dr Kiarna Brown, Jess Murray and Marisa Smiler-Cairns are a team based in Garramilla (Darwin), on Larrakia Country, that make up the Top End chapter of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance.

They note that preterm birth remains the leading cause of death in children up to five years of age. “The national average rate of preterm birth in Australia has remained relatively constant over the last 10 years (between 8.1 and 8.7%). Many of these babies lose their fight for life,” the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance noted in a statement. “In 2018, there were twice as many preterm live born babies born to First Nations mothers (17%) than to non-Aboriginal mothers (8%).” The biggest discrepancy is in the extremely preterm gestational age. First Nations women in the NT are four times more likely to lose a baby between 20 and 23 weeks gestational age: before the baby even gets a chance to survive.

Pregnancy can be a particularly vulnerable time for First Nations women, especially for those with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes and cardiac conditions like Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD). Dr Kiarna Brown said there have been some key improvements in outcomes for First Nations women over the past decade. There has been a notable increase in the proportion of First Nations mothers attending an antenatal visit in the first trimester (from 49% in 2012 to 70% in 2020).”

To view the National Indigenous News article The First Nations health experts working to give Indigenous babies the best possible start in life in full click here.

Top End Alliance: Jessica Murray, Marisa Smiler-Cairns, and Dr Kiarna Brown. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

Karlie one of growing number of Aboriginal doctors

For most of Karlie James’s life, studying medicine was a “pipedream”. Then she grew up, started working full time and had kids of her own, and she felt that dream slipping away. “Part of the reason why I wanted to become a doctor when I was little was that my passion was science and learning and wanting to help people,” she said. Then, around the time the Gunaikurnai, Yorta Yorta and Kuku Djungan woman turned 30 and had her third son, she reached a turning point. Growing up between Darwin and Katherine in the NT, she realised becoming a doctor was something she had to do.

“It became more apparent as I got older in the workforce, how much of an impact it would [have] to create more Indigenous doctors, especially in the community,” she said. “And that was one of my driving motivators to pursue medicine.” Having graduated from the Flinders University NT medicine program late last year, Dr James is now among the 0.5% of doctors in Australia who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. But that figure, which is recorded each year by the Australian Health Practitioners Agency (AHPRA), is slowly shifting and is up from 0.3% in 2016.

Also shifting is the understanding that in order to close the gap in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, Australia needs more First Nations doctors.

To view the ABC News article Karlie James is among the growing number of First Nations doctors working to tackle the health care gap in full click here.

Dr James completed her degree while caring for her four sons, as well as her nephews and nieces. Photo: Dane Hirst, ABC News.

Healing walk to honour those lost to suicide

This week, for the very first time, a group of First Nations and non-Indigenous people will take a walk along the Murrumbidgee River in memory of loved ones they have lost to suicide. The walk has been called Murra Yarra, which means ‘Speak Out, Speak Loud’ in Wiradjuri language. Organiser Jasmine Williams hopes it gives families with the chance to think of the good memories with those who have passed away.

“It’s the first time anything like this has ever been done in this community,” the Wiradjuri and Wolgalu woman said. “It’s an opportunity to have a positive spin on our grief and be able to really focus on the goodness, and the good memories of their lives instead of focusing on the way they passed.” Ms Williams is hosting Murra Yarra through the youth suicide prevention community action group Yamandhu Marang (‘Are You Well’), after Wiradjuri Elder Uncle Hewitt Whyman came to her with the idea. He said he had a vision of people coming together in their grief, and encouraged everyone experiencing similar losses to share with others in their sorrow.

When they heard about the walk Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation got involved and decided to sponsor the event. Practice manage Jane Kearnes said they’ve helped organise a barbecue at the end of the walk at the Wiradjuri Reserve, as well as bucket hats and water stations along the track. “I applaud Jasmine and the other committees for getting this up and running,” she said. “Something like this might encourage others to speak out more and not be silent.” According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Indigenous suicide were more than double that of non-Indigenous suicides in 2021.

For more information on the walk you can access the Yamandhu Marang Facebook page here.

Jasmine Williams, sitting on rock under tree on bank of river

Murra Yarra organiser Jasmine Williams says the healing walk is a chance for those grieving to remember their loved ones. Photo: Madeline Begley. Image source: The Daily Advertiser.

Healthy food in remote NT a priority

The NT government has a long way to go in their efforts to address obesity and create healthier food environments, according to the latest scorecard of government performance on food policy. The Food Policy Index, first developed and implemented in 2017, benchmarks Australian governments on their implementation of globally recommended policies to improve population diets. Professor Gary Sacks from Deakin University’s Institute for Health Transformation who compiled the most recent report said greater policy action was required by the NT government.

“Supporting efforts to establish a licensing and accreditation scheme for healthy food retail in remote Indigenous communities needs to be one of the top priorities for the NT government.” Professor Sacks said a key recommendation from the 2020 Parliamentary Inquiry into Food Pricing and Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities was the need for a licensing and inspection scheme for all remote stores. “The Healthy Stores 2020 study showed that restrictions on price promotion and product placement of unhealthy foods and drinks resulted in 1.8 tonnes less sugar being sold from 10 stores over 12 weeks while not impacting store profits,” Professor Sacks said.

“If this was extrapolated out across all remote stores over a year, the reduction could be as much as 90 tonnes a year, which equates to the weight of 60 medium sized family cars. Modelling suggests that this reduction in sugar could result in a 10% risk reduction in mortality from cardiovascular disease.”

To view the Deakin University media release Healthy food retail in remote NT communities identified as top priority click here and the Joint Policy Statement of The Coalition for Healthy Remote Stores on the NT Government’s Community Stores Licensing program here.

Peppimenarti store, NT. Image source: C&I Media.

AMA urges action to save patients on PBS medicines

The AMA has urged all members of the Federal Parliament to support the AMA’s campaign to bring down out-of-pocket costs of medicines for patients and relieve cost of living pressures. It says implementation of a five-year-old recommendation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) would save patients up to $180 a year on selected PBS medicines.

AMA President Professor Steve Robson has written to all MPs and Senators, calling on their support for the Federal Government to immediately implement a recommendation from the independent PBAC to increase the maximum dispensed quantities of selected PBS items from one month’s supply to two months’ supply per dispensing. This would also allow up to 12 months’ supply in total from a single script, saving patients an extra trip to their doctor.

Professor Robson said increasing out-of-pocket costs of medicines was a key reason many Australians delayed or failed to fill prescriptions. He said although the Government’s recent policy to lower co-payments for patients to $30 was a good move, many patients still faced significant costs and more needed to be done to lower PBS medicine costs for patients. “Pensioners and concession card holders would be among those to benefit, recognising the recent reduction in the PBS co-payment to $30 did not apply to them. It would free-up GP consultations with the possibility for GPs to write what is effectively a 12-month prescription for these particular medications. This is time GPs could spend with other patients who, we know, can benefit from the preventative health care GPs provide.”

To view the AMA’s media release AMA urges immediate action to save patients on PBS medicines in full click here.

AMA President Professor Steve Robson. Image source: The Age.

Breakthrough partnership to benefit remote communities

A breakthrough partnership between Hoops 4 Health and the Center for Healing and Justice through Sport will see some of the NT’s most remote communities benefit from access to trauma-informed and culturally-informed and healing-centred training. Founder of Hoops4Health, Timmy Duggan OAM, is the man behind the vision to re-empower young people and communities to improved their quality of life.

Mr Duggan has maternal ties with Tennant Creek mob from Warramungu and paternal ties to the Nykinya people of the Kimberley, and has been working with communities across the NT for two decades. He said the move to combine First Nations-led healing with trauma-informed care emerged through Hoops 4 Health staff receiving training under Dr Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Network model.

“We have partnered with The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport (CHJS) who offers training to help folks understand the impact of overwhelming stress, or trauma, on young people and equips them with skills to take action to support these young people,” Mr Duggan said. “This partnership just really solidifies that sometimes you’ve got to bring in an expert you know, we’ve got the First Nations knowledge. Blend that with the science around the neuroscience to address trauma in our communities and the places we work and we think we’ve got something pretty unique.”

To view the National Indigenous Times article Hoops 4 Health and The Center for Healing and Justice through Sport form partnership in full click here.

basketball star Nate Jawai with a young rising star shooting for goal

Basketball star Nate Jawai with a young rising star. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Mar 10 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Concrete action needed to address health disparities

Concrete action needed to address health disparities
FASD Communications and Engagement Grant
How to improve health equity for young men
Why members joined the Coalition of Peaks
VtP is a beginning, not an end
Unlocking hope for people with kidney disease
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is of Francine Eades, Area Director of Aboriginal Health at WA’s East Metropolitan Health Service. Image source: article Minang Noongar health expert leads major health service’s mission to close the gap published in the National Indigenous Times on 9 March 2023.

Concrete action needed to address disparities

Health services need to take “rigorous action” to Close the Gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia, the new Area Director of Aboriginal Health at WA’s key East Metropolitan Health Service said yesterday. Minang Noongar woman Francine Eades, who took on the role after leading WA’s COVID-19 vaccine roll out in Aboriginal communities, said it was time for “uncomfortable discussions” about racism and other issues affecting Aboriginal Australia.

“We know what the epidemiology of Aboriginal health tells us – we know about those disparities that have existed for quite some time,” Ms Eades said. “We have to acknowledge it and take concrete action to address those disparities in a systemic and rigorous way. It’s time to have some of those uncomfortable conversations about racism and how we are going to address it.” Ms Eades was speaking at a ceremony in Perth to mark her appointment.

Ms Eades has more than 30 years’ experience in the health sector, including 20 years as a registered nurse, and has a Master of Public Health in Applied Epidemiology obtained under the supervision of now Australian Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly. Ms Eades is also a past chairperson of the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service and worked as an academic at the Curtin University Centre for Aboriginal Studies and the Curtin Medical School.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Minang Noongar health expert leads major health service’s mission to close the gap in full click here. You can also view the video featuring Francine Eades in one of the videos developed by WA Health to assist WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healthcare Workers in their roles.

FASD Communications and Engagement Grant

NACCHO is excited to announce the FASD Communications and Engagement Grant to support NACCHO members to develop and deliver highly-localised, place-based communications materials and engagement activities to enhance and extend the Strong Born communications campaign. Strong Born has been designed to raise awareness of FASD and the harms of drinking alcohol while pregnant and breastfeeding, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in rural and remote communities.

NACCHO members located in MM4–MM7 are eligible to apply for Round 1 of the grant funding. NACCHO members located in MM1–MM3 will be eligible to apply for Round 2.

Eligible ACCHOs can apply for between $5,000–$60,000 (GST exclusive) of FASD Grant funding which can be used for activities such as:

Creation of locally relevant communications materials and resources raising awareness of FASD and the harms of drinking alcohol while pregnant and breastfeeding
Hosting community events and yarning circles
Running information sessions for staff members
Production of additional copies of the ‘Strong Born’ campaign materials
Translation or adaptation of the ‘Strong Born’ campaign materials and/or key messages into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages

You can register for the grant information session being held at 1:30 PM AEDT, Wednesday 15 March 2023 here.

For more information about the FASD Grant and how to apply, visit NACCHO’s FASD Communications and Engagement Grant webpage here.

Applications for Round 1 will close 11:00 PM AEDT Wednesday 22 March 2023. Applications for Round 2 will open in May.

You can also contact the NACCHO FASD Grants team at using this email link.

How to improve health equity for young men

Risky behaviour, particularly among younger men, sees shorter life expectancies and higher rates of premature mortality than in women. Flinders University Professor (Health and Social Equity) James Smith has partnered with colleagues at the University of Michigan and Georgetown University in the US, to co-edit a new book about innovative health promotion programs which tackle the complex social and structural barriers facing adolescent boys and young men of colour (BYMOC) in Australia, NZ, the US and Canada.

From alcohol and drug misuse, smoking, unsafe sex, reckless driving, violent confrontations, poor dietary habits and a tendency to avoid seeking help and using health services, their new book discusses positive steps which have helped address the problems compounded by social, economic, demographic and geographic disadvantage.

The book chapters describe how to reduce incarceration, improve educational and health outcomes, offer strategies to address mental health challenges, and ways to promote access and optimal usage of health and social services.

To view the Retail Pharmacy article Strategies for improving Health Equity Among Young Men of Colour in full click here.

vector image overlapping transparent male heads different colours

Image source: Retail Pharmacy.

Why members joined the Coalition of Peaks

In 2020 the Coalition of Peaks (CoP), all Australian governments, and the Australian Local Government Association signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement), to change the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The National Agreement has been built around what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people said is important to improve their lives. The CoP is made up of 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak and member organisations across Australia.

The video below Why members joined the CoP features:

Donna Murray, CEO Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA)
Robert Skeen, CEO Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council NSW (AH&MRC)
Fiona Cornforth, CEO The Healing Foundation
Scott Wilson, CEO Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council SA

VtP is a beginning, not an end

Yorta Yorta woman Dr Summer May Finlay who is a Senior Lecturer (Indigenous Health) at the University of Wollongong has written an opinion piece about the forthcoming referendum on a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament (VtP). Dr Finlay says that “with so much media attention and conversation on social media about the Uluru Statement and the VtP, many people are seeking to understand what it means now and in the future.” According to Dr Finlay “To understand the Uluru Statement, including the Voice, you need to be clear on what the Statement says and be aware of the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in this Country.”

“There are many decisions, including legislation and policy, made by parliament. Currently, there is no systematic way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can provide their views on decisions impacting us. The Voice will be one way of ensuring our voices are heard. Consider how the 2007 NT National Emergency Response, otherwise known as the NT Intervention, would have looked if we had been able to provide advice on its development and implementation. Or would this damaging legislation never have gone ahead? The 2008 Closing the Gap targets, first developed in 2008 without the input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, wouldn’t have needed to be revised 12 Years later in 2020 through a co-design process with the Coalition of Peaks (CoP).”

The Voice should, however, never undermine the capacity for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation and community to have a say in what happens in their region. Local input is just as crucial as a coordinated national approach. Ultimately, there is much to consider when considering how you will vote in the Referendum. And for me, the most critical consideration is whether it will benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I believe it will. It’s the first of many steps required. It’s a beginning.”

To read Dr Summer May Finlay’s article The Voice to Parliament is a beginning, not an end on the University of Wollongong Australia’s The Stand webpage click here.

Dr Summer May Finlay. Image source: Public Health Association Australia’s Intouch Public Health webpage.

Unlocking hope for people with kidney disease

For the first time in 20 years, two new classes of drugs have become available in Australia for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease, the most common cause of kidney failure. Both are extremely effective, safe, and relatively affordable. However, too few people with kidney disease are using these breakthrough drugs. We can only unlock these benefits if doctors, patients and the broader community have greater awareness of kidney disease, and the tools we have to fight it.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a gradual loss of the kidneys’ ability to filter waste and excess fluid from the blood. It’s quite insidious. In Australia, kidney disease affects an estimated one in 10 people, but most won’t be aware they have it until it is quite advanced. At the point of diagnosis, many people are at risk of progressing to kidney failure.

For someone with kidney failure, their life expectancy is reduced by three quarters – equivalent to many cancers. Patients with CKD experience a dramatically reduced quality of life – they feel weak and tired, and they can’t think clearly. Not to mention they’re at greater risk of a whole range of other conditions including heart disease, heart failure and stroke.

To view Professor Vlado Perkovic’s article Unlocking hope for people with kidney disease published on the University of NSW’s Newsroom webpage in full click here.

tablets being poured from a bottle into the palm of a hand

Photo: iStock. Image source: UNSW Sydney Newsroom webpage.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Mar 6 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Mitigating the impacts of racism on health

Mitigating the impacts of racism on health
Lifetime Achievement Award for Fran Vaughan
RACGP and NACCHO aim for preventive healthcare
Keeping kids connected with siblings and culture
Enduring disgrace of deaths in custody
TB outbreak on the APY Lands
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is from an NITV article Study finds racism leads to poor health published on 26 June 2021.

Mitigating the impacts of racism on health

Indigenous people’s health and health rights have been harmed and undermined by racism globally. There is substantial evidence that interpersonal and structural racism contributes to Indigenous people’s physical and mental ill health and reduces access to health services. In Australia, the racist violation of Indigenous human rights since colonisation has a profound impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of individuals, families and communities across generations.

This has resulted in an unacceptable health equity gap, which the 2007 Closing the Gap strategy sought to address. Recognition of the urgent need to address the health and wellbeing impacts of racism guided The Boatshed Racism Roundtable Declaration in 2009, which called on the PM and First Ministers of Australia to initiate constitutional, policy and practice reforms underpinned by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — particularly Article 3 (the right to self‐determination) and Article 42 (calling on United Nations signatories to implement the Declaration) — to ensure protection against racial discrimination.

Recent work through the Partnership for Justice in Health and the Lowitja Institute has potential to inform the evidence base, health policy, legislation and rights to strengthen Indigenous access to justice and health, particularly through the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services sector under the auspice of the Closing the Gap Partnership and Coalition of Peaks.

To view The Medical Journal of Australia research article Mitigating the impacts of racism on Indigenous wellbeing through human rights, legislative and health policy reform in full click here.

drawing of an ATSI child with 5 white hands pointing at child's face

Image source: ABC Everyday website. Image Credit: Molly Hunt.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Fran Vaughan MPS

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) SA/NT Branch has announced the winners of its Annual Excellence Awards. The SA/NT Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Fran Vaughan MPS, for her work in improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in particular those living in remote areas.

With a background in hospital and community pharmacy and Home Medicines Reviews, Fran has been able to transition these skills to onsite clinical pharmacist practice roles in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of the NT and Queensland. She is a strong advocate of the value of embedding a pharmacist into Aboriginal Health Services. Pharmacists working within Aboriginal Health Services can provide patients with culturally safe access to information about their medicines, provide education and training to existing staff on appropriate use of medicines, and assist in managing medications at transitions of care, such as discharge from hospital.

In her role as pharmacist adviser for NACCHO, she helped to facilitate the IPAC project (Integrating Pharmacists within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to Improve Chronic Disease Management) which showed positive benefits of integrating pharmacists into 18 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services. She is an experienced educator and has helped to prepare health professionals, including pharmacists, nurses and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Practitioners (AHPs) and Workers (AHW) for remote and rural practice at the Centre for Remote Health, Flinders University. She has also played a key role in the development of the Remote Primary Health Care Manuals (RPHCM) which guide health care delivery in remote areas.

To view the medianet. news story SA/NT Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Fran Vaughan MPS in full click here.

Fran Vaughan MPS holding PSA SA/NT Pharmacist Awards 2023 - Lifetime Achievement Award

Fran Vaughan MPS was presented with the PSA SA/NT Pharmacist Awards 2023 – Lifetime Achievement Award. Image source: PSA Twitter post 4 March 2023.

RACGP and NACCHO aim for preventive healthcare

On Friday last week the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and NACCHO convened an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health roundtable. Held over two days and attended by people from across Australia with experience in primary healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the roundtable provided attendees with a special forum to exchange ideas on how best to support health services nation-wide so that they are prevention-focused, culturally safe and responsive, equitable, and free from racism.

RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said “There is plenty of work to be done and not a moment to lose. As President this is right at the top of my priorities over the next two years, and I look forward to working closely with NACCHO on a range of endeavours that will make a real difference in healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our organisations are currently working in partnership to develop flagship resources that support effective, culturally safe, and responsive primary healthcare that is valued by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Chair of the RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Faculty, Dr Karen Nicholls, said she was “optimistic that if we put our minds to it and listen carefully to health experts and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients we can improve primary healthcare outcomes. The focus will very much be on how to support genuine shared decision making and partnerships, and carefully considering how the cultural and social determinants of health impact primary healthcare for these patients.” The RACGP and NACCHO will publish the fourth edition of the National guide to preventive health assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people later this year – a flagship publication, spearheaded by NACCHO in October this year.

To view the medianet. article RACGP and NACCHO working together to achieve high-quality preventive healthcare in full click here.

Keeping kids connected to siblings and culture

Victoria’s former Aboriginal children’s commissioner has called for increased allowances for kinship and foster carers in a bid to increase the pool of First Nations people looking after children in out-of-home care, and ensuring they remain connected to culture. Andrew Jackomos, who held the commissioner role for five years between 2013 to 2018 and was the first person to hold an Aboriginal children watchdog role, has also appealed for greater safeguards to ensure Indigenous siblings in the out-of-home care system remain in contact.

The Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara man said it was a challenge to get enough Indigenous carers to step forward when a First Nations child was removed from their family and could not be placed with relatives. “When children cannot be placed with family they should be placed with people within our community,” he said.

Jackomos said increasing remuneration was one way to incentivise more First Nations people to become carers and ensure Indigenous children separated from their families could remain connected to their culture. “We need to make it attractive for people to step forward. And people are absolutely committed, but the problem is carers have become burnt out. There needs to be more after-care as well,” he said.

To read The Guardian article Calls to increase allowances for Indigenous carers to keep children connected with culture in full click here.

portrait of former Victorian Aboriginal children’s commissioner Andrew Jackomos

Former Victorian Aboriginal children’s commissioner Andrew Jackomos says it is vital that siblings remain in contact in the out-of-home care system and that separation should be the ‘absolute last resort’. Photo: Victorian government. Image source: The Guardian.

Enduring disgrace of deaths in custody

There can be little doubt that the final report from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, delivered in April 1991, was a watershed moment for our nation. Established in October 1987, the commission inquired into the circumstances surrounding the deaths over a 10-year period of 99 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people while they were held in detention. It produced more than 5,000 pages of documents and a list of 339 recommendations.

The Albanese government’s reconciliation envoy, Senator Pat Dodson, has now demanded the government immediately act on the commission’s recommendations and is calling for a national Indigenous justice committee, a federal office to oversee state coronial inquests and ensure the provision of Indigenous-tailored health services in jails.

He says the responsibility is “absolutely” on the shoulders of the Albanese government, which has inherited the obligation to act on the work of the royal commission notwithstanding the abject failure of previous administrations, both Labor and Coalition, to end what can only be described as an enduring national disgrace.

To view The Sydney Morning Herald article Act now on enduring disgrace of Indigenous deaths in custody in full click here.

Senator Pat Dodson, the Albanese’s government envoy on reconciliation, has called for immediate action to prevent Indigenous deaths in custody. Photo: Rhett Wyman. Image source: The Sydney Morning Herald.

TB outbreak on the APY Lands

Health authorities are working to contain an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. So far, the SA TB Service has diagnosed 10 cases linked to the outbreak. SA’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier and other health officials travelled to the APY Lands last week to try and contain the outbreak through contact tracing and treatment.

Professor Spurrier said she had met with community leaders and service providers, including schools. “Tuberculosis is not commonly seen in Australia but is treatable and preventable. It will need a sustained response over a prolonged period,” she said. “Strong relationships with community allowing co-design are essential. It’s important that all people in the community have the information they need to prevent the cluster from growing and to facilitate quick testing and treatment.”

To view the ABC News article Health authorities declare tuberculosis outbreak on the APY Lands after 10 cases diagnosed in full click here.

aerial shot of long straight road in APY Lands, SA

The APY Lands are in SA’s far north. Photo: Kent Gordon, Australian Story. Image source: ABC News.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Feb 20 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Pharmacist Scholarship Applications Open

Pharmacist Scholarship Applications Open
Scholarship opens doors for speech pathology career
Celebrating WorldPride with WSLHD’s Darren Lee
Long COVID causing job losses and homelessness
Virtual reality part of mental health trial
Alice Springs alcohol rehabs desperate for support
Sector Jobs

Pharmacist Scholarship Applications Open

NACCHO is excited to announce that applications are open for the 2nd year of the NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacist Scholarship* which provides subsidy and support for prospective or current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pharmacy students. 

Each recipient will receive up to $10,000 per annum to contribute to university expenses. The scholarship also offers support and mentorship from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals and organisations to ensure ongoing integration and connection with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health sector. 

The scholarship program aims to build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pharmacist workforce and to raise the profile of the beneficial role that pharmacy and pharmacists can play in supporting appropriate and culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

For more information about the scholarship and how to apply, click here.

You can also contact Mike Stephens on 0408 278 204 or via email using this link.

Scholarship opens door for speech pathology career

The art of being committed to your work at Victoria’s largest public health service while being a prominent advocate for First Nations wellbeing is all in a day’s work for CQ University alumnus Hannah Thompson. A proud Kara Kara woman from the Central Highlands, Hannah is an active member of five different Speech Pathology Australia groups and advisory committees, where she provides input on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture relates to the organisation’s competency standards.

Ms Thompson received a BMA Indigenous Scholarship during her studies which she notes helped her embrace new career opportunities. “My goal is to combine my passion in speech pathology with my desire to help close the gap between First Nations and non-First Nations Australians in the healthcare and education sectors,” Ms Thompson said. “The experiences I had at CQ University, my BMA scholarship, and the connections I made throughout my studies opened doors for me post graduation.”

Upon graduating in 2018, Ms Thompson was employed at a Central Queensland therapy clinic before accepting an early career speech pathologist position in the public sector. “My current role has certainly changed my perspective of working in public healthcare,” she said. “Every day has its own challenges, especially being the primary speech pathologist on the COVID ward during the peak of the pandemic, however, the team around me are very supportive and uplifting. In the public space, you work alongside incredible people and learn so much on the job.”

To view the National Indigenous Times article Scholarship put young Kara Kara woman on the path to speech pathology career in full click here.

CQ Uni alumnus Hannah Thompson standing in front of Aboriginal and TSI flags

CQ University alumnus Hannah Thompson. Image source: National Indigenous Times – 18 February 2023.

Celebrating WorldPride with WSLHD’s Darren Lee

Just six weeks into his new role at Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD), Darren Lee already has a deep connection with the local community at Mount Druitt Hospital. Despite living in Darwin for over a decade, Darren has returned home. “I am born and bred in this area – all my family are here, I was born in Blacktown Hospital and went to the school just down the road; Plumpton High School, so it’s all really familiar to me,” he said. “This community is my home. I went to school here, my friends are now teachers here, I’ve got four or five friends who are now nurses and staff at Mount Druitt Hospital. It’s home. I’ve worked in other districts and I called Darwin home for 13 years but this is my home.”

Darren is an Aboriginal Sexual Health Promotion Officer at the WSLHD Aboriginal Health Hub, located at Mount Druitt Hospital. In the days leading up to Sydney WorldPride, and as a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, Darren is urging his mob to have a great time during WorldPride, but to prioritise their health by getting tested and partying safely. “Gay, straight, green or blue, we all like to have sex. Our job is to remind people to do it safely.

“Being an Aboriginal Health Promotion Officer, it’s about promoting to my mob who we are, where we are and what our services do, and to normalise it. If you’re going for your annual health check for your blood sugar levels, what’s wrong with peeing in a cup or doing a swab or taking a blood test to check your full health. It’s about not stereotyping or stigmatising people for what they do in their personal lives. As an Aboriginal man and a gay man myself, I’m proud of both of those things completely equally.”

To view The Pulse article in full click here.

Long COVID causing job losses and homelessness

The federal government is developing a national Long COVID strategy, with a parliamentary inquiry hearing the condition has resulted in job losses and homelessness among some sufferers. The chief medical officer, Professor Paul Kelly, said the federal health department had been tasked with developing a national Long COVID strategy that would cover prevention, immunisation, treatment and research into the condition.

“That is well under way,” Kelly said at a public hearing on Friday, although he went on to say the strategy would probably not be finalised until after the health department had received advice following the parliamentary inquiry into Long COVID and repeated COVID-19 infections. Speaking at the inquiry’s third public hearing on Friday, Labor MP Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah said, “I think we’re going to probably land on a recommendation that we obviously need national guidelines … and perhaps living guidelines that keep evolving as the data keeps coming in.”

A lack of data about Long COVID in Australia was repeatedly raised as a concern during the hearing. Dr Jason Agostino, a senior medical adviser at NACCHO, told the inquiry that there was “no clear evidence on Long COVID cases among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – most jurisdictions have not shared data on presentations to their LONG COVID clinics by Indigenous status”.

To view The Guardian article Long COVID causing job losses and homelessness in Australia, inquiry hears in full click here.

4 COVID-19 Antigen test results - 2 negative 2 positive

Australian affected by long Covid told the parliamentary inquiry about months-long wait times to see specialists. Photo: Amer Ghazzal, Rex, Shutterstock. Image source: The Guardian – 17 February 2023.

Virtual reality part of mental health trial

Young people in the NT are stepping into the world of virtual reality (VR) as part of a new trial aimed at breaking down the barriers to mental health care. VR mental health sessions have started being trialled in parts of the NT’s Top End region, as part of a project from the NT’s Menzies School of Health Research and Aboriginal VR developer Brett Leavy.

By gamifying programs to address youth mental illness, cognitive disabilities and neurodiversity, the team hopes the project will help tackle major obstacles to care in the territory such as issues with remoteness and staffing. Mr Leavy, a Kooma man, said the project particularly took a new approach to the mental health of young First Nations people by connecting them to their culture and country through VR.

“It’s fun, it’s engaging, it’s a new technology,” he said. “It’s a new technology for an ancient culture.” The NT has the highest rate of suicide in the country, with young people and First Nations people particularly at risk.

To view the ABC News article Children explore virtual reality as part of trial for new NT youth mental health project in full click here.

Aboriginal teenager at Darwin school using virtual reality

Darwin school students test virtual reality software designed to improve mental health. Photo: Peter Garnish, ABC News.

Alice Springs alcohol rehabs desperate for support

Jocelyn Dhu has seen more desperation than most while working on the frontlines of alcohol addiction in Alice Springs. The Eastern Arrernte woman has watched people from all walks of life come through her door. Some for the first time, others for the tenth, but all battling shame, stigma and a sense they are “too far gone”. But Ms Dhu knows that’s never the case. “You have to see the person,” she said. “When you look at an individual, and you see their stories, and why alcohol or drugs became a problem for them — that’s what you need to fix.”

Alice Springs has attracted frenzied national attention in recent weeks amid a crime crisis. Liquor has been recognised as a major driver behind issues in the town. However, the NT’s peak drug and alcohol body said frontline addiction services had been chronically neglected by all levels of government.

Drug and Alcohol Services Australia, where Ms Dhu works as deputy chief executive, is just one Alice Springs service calling for help. It recently had to clear clients out of its ageing residential rehabilitation facility, Aranda House, because of a cockroach and bed bug infestation. Ms Dhu said it had sparked a waitlist of about 20 people. “I think the biggest issue is people’s level of motivation to change,” she said. “They might want to come in now, but having to wait, they change their mind and go, ‘Oh, no, I’m OK’.”

To view the ABC News article Alice Springs alcohol rehabs call desperately for support as liquor bans reinstated in full click here.

portrait shot of Jocelyn Dhu, Eastern Arrernte woman

Jocelyn Dhu says people can struggle with alcoholism for a wide range of reasons.Photo: Xavier Martin, ABC Alice Springs.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Dec 14 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Aboriginal-run renal facility celebrates 20 years

Aboriginal-run renal facility celebrates 20 years
KAMS shares Ray James Memorial Award
Why Keating’s Redfern Speech still matters
Criminal age can save lives, inquiry told
Taking the stress out of heatwaves
Indigenous leadership key to halt Nature’s destruction
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is of Angus Seela who travelled to Perth for life-saving treatment before dialysis was available in the Kimberley. Photo: Tallulah Bieundurry, ABC Kimberley. Image is from an ABC News article Australia’s first Indigenous-run renal facility celebrates 20th anniversary in Broome published today.

Indigenous-run renal facility celebrates 20 years

Australia’s first Indigenous-run facility dedicated to kidney health has hit a key milestone in WA’s far north. The 10-bed Kimberley Renal Services (KRS) unit was established in Broome in 2002, after Aboriginal medical leader Dr Arnold “Puggy” Hunter advocated for Indigenous people to receive treatment on country. Since then, the service has grown to include Kununurra, Fitzroy Crossing and Derby.

Kimberley woman Agnes Seela is the longest-running dialysis patient in Broome. She remembers a time when the life-saving treatment was thousands of kilometres away. “I was in Perth for a long time and it was really hard,” she said. “I didn’t get to come home for my dad’s funeral.” Ms Seela and her husband underwent dialysis together until he received a kidney transplant. She said treatment in the Kimberley had lifted her spirits. “I was really happy to start dialysis in Broome,” she said. “It makes it really easy to travel between Halls Creek, Ringer Soak and Broome.”

Rates of kidney disease in the Kimberley are among the highest in Australia, with the disease particularly prevalent in Aboriginal people. A leading cause for the disease is diabetes, with most people living with it experiencing some level of kidney decline. KRS Medical Director Lorraine Anderson said kidney issues were on the rise in the region.

To view the ABC News article Australia’s first Indigenous-run renal facility celebrates 20th anniversary in Broome in full click here.

Ms Anderson says the 10-bed Broome facility has saved lives. Photo: Tallulah Bieundurry, ABC Kimberley. Image source: ABC News.

KAMS shares James Memorial Award

Researchers from the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS) and the Rural Clinical School of WA University of WA are thrilled to win the annual prestigious Ray James Memorial Award. This award is presented for the best article published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia over the last year. The article was chosen by the Journal’s Research, Evaluation and Evidence Translation Committee and is presented for excellence and innovation in health promotion research.

The research explores 10 Aboriginal Australian men’s experiences during their partner’s antenatal period. The study found the participants valued supporting their partners through pregnancy, making positive changes to their own lifestyles, and having access to information on pregnancy. Participants described experiencing multiple stressors during the antenatal period that impacted on their social and emotional wellbeing. This study demonstrated that these Aboriginal men valued engagement with antenatal care services and highlighted strategies to improve Aboriginal paternal involvement with antenatal care services.

Erica Spry, Bardi and Kija woman and researcher discussed how the project grew from an existing project that was exploring maternal and child health in the Kimberley: “I was having a conversation with an Elder, talking about our other research and recruiting participants and this Elder said to me “it takes two to make a baby, you should be talking to the men too’. She was right, so little had been done exploring the role of our Aboriginal dad’s.”

To view The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) media release click here.

Emma Carlin (Research Fellow, RCSWA/ Senior Research Officer KAMS); Erica Spry (Research Fellow, RCSWA/ Research Officer KAMS); Zac Cox (Manager Social and Emotional Wellbeing, KAMS). Image source: CBPATSISP.

Why Keating’s Redfern Speech still matters

30 years after former Labor PM Paul Keating addressed a mostly Indigenous crowd in Sydney’s Redfern, his acknowledgement of genocide, Stolen Generations and ongoing oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remains as relevant as ever. Delivered in Blak heartland in honour of the 1993 International Year Of Indigenous People, the speech saw Keating directly address the Indigenous community and take moral responsibility for the atrocities of colonisation for the first time.

The most resonant words were starkly honest. “It begins, I think, with that act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers,” Keating told the crowd, stunned to appreciative silence.

In a poll of the ‘Most Unforgettable Speech of all Time’, Keating’s address ranked third. It trailed only Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have a Dream’ and the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ from the Bible. The vote illustrated the impact of Keating’s words not only at the time, but in the decades since. Delivered only 6 months after the historic Mabo decision by the High Court, which recognised Native Title and expunged the fallacy of terra nullius from the history books, the Redfern Speech came at a pivotal moment in the fight for First Nations sovereignty.

To read the NITV article Why Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech still matters in full click here.

Criminal age can save lives, inquiry told

A silly mistake at age 10 can have devastating and often permanent consequences for Aboriginal kids but raising the criminal age of responsibility could help save lives, experts say. When Bangerang and Wiradjuri elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson was in year 6, her 10-year-old brother was taken into police custody on suspicion of minor theft.

He would later spend the next two decades in custody before his premature death at 36, a tragic story Ms Atkinson says is all too common in her community. “That’s the story of a child being removed at 10 years of age and then what their life trajectory is. This is what we want to stop,” Ms Atkinson told the Yoorrook Justice Commission as part of an inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice and child protection systems on Tuesday.

She said raising the age of criminal responsibility in Victoria from 10 to 14 could also stop Aboriginal deaths in custody and lead to better overall community outcomes.

To read the Muswellbrook Chronicle article Criminal age can save lives, inquiry told in full click here.

More needs to be done to ensure Indigenous children aren’t locked up, Aunty Geraldine Atkinson says. Photo: Morgan Hancock/AAP. Image source: Muswellbrook Chronicle.

Taking the stress out of heatwaves

A pioneering new Heat Stress Scale and accompanying app will be trialed in Western Sydney this summer, designed to reduce the risk of serious health problems brought on by heatwaves. Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience Steph Cooke said the app is being developed by researchers at the University of Sydney through the $52m Disaster Risk Reduction Fund.

“Heatwaves are responsible for more deaths in NSW than any other severe weather event, with the impact greatest on children, the elderly, Indigenous communities and people with pre-existing health conditions,” Ms Cooke said. “The Heat Stress Scale is similar in concept to the UV index and gives users personalised, real-time information on their risk of heat-related health problems based on temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed. This innovation will put a person’s individual risk of health problems in hot conditions in the palm of their hands, and could revolutionise the way we handle the heat.”

Professor Ollie Jay, who is leading the world-first project, said the Heat Stress Scale and app are being developed by a team of multidisciplinary researchers from the University of Sydney’s Heat and Health Research Incubator in collaboration with the Sydney Environment Institute. “This summer Western Sydney residents included in the trial will be able to create a personalised health profile in the app, providing information like age, medical conditions and regular medication,” Professor Jay said.

To view the NSW Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience’s media release Taking the stress out of heatwaves in full click here.

Indigenous leadership key to halt Nature’s destruction

At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) being held in Montreal, Canada from 7–19 December almost 200 countries are reckoning with the world’s extraordinary loss of the variety of life. Climate change, mining, urban development and more are threatening Earth’s biodiversity to an extent never before witnessed in human history.

The conference will see countries negotiate a global 2030 plan, called the Global Biodiversity Framework, to set worldwide targets for a range of issues, from establishing national parks to habitat destruction. But so far, the draft text is lacking a fundamental element: adequate inclusion of language and perspectives from Indigenous peoples and local communities. Without Indigenous and local community leadership, any biodiversity targets will remain out of reach.

Despite comprising less than 5% of the global population, Indigenous peoples protect an estimated 80% of global biodiversity. Yet, the capacity of Indigenous peoples and local communities to continue to exercise this stewardship is being actively eroded across the world. Issues of power and inclusion in the current draft framework must therefore be resolved.

To view The National Tribune article Indigenous Leadership Key to Halting Nature’s Destruction in full click here and for more information about COP15 you can access the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) webpage on the UN Environment Programme website here.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Dec 13 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: 2023 National COVID-19 Health Management Plan

2023 National COVID-19 Health Management Plan
NACCHO affiliates doing us proud
Governments must act to raise the age
Improving the lives and mental health of youth
WellMob: An introduction
Trailblazing Indigenous doctor
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is from the cover of the Australian Government’s 16 page National COVID-19 Health Management Plan for 2023.

2023 National COVID-19 Health Management Plan

A National COVID-19 Health Management Plan (the National Plan) has been developed to outline the Australian Government health supports to manage COVID-19 over the next 12 months. These health supports have been informed by the likely 2023 Australian epidemiological outlook and advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly.

Over 2023, Australia will transition to managing COVID-19 in a similar way to other respiratory viruses, moving away from COVID exceptionalism and bespoke arrangements. While we are learning more about the virus and its impacts on the community and health systems all the time, we are not yet at a “steady state” where we can predict and manage it within normal systems. This means health response measures are still required.

The National Plan summarises the interconnecting whole-of-system measures to transition our management of COVID-19, while maintaining a state of readiness and capacity to respond as the pandemic continues to evolve.

You can access the Australian Government’s 16 page National COVID-19 Health Management Plan for 2023 in full here.

NACCHO affiliates doing us proud

The Aboriginal Health Council of SA (AHCSA) Sexual Health Team has won the People’s Choice Awards Sexual Health Poster! The AHCSA Sexual Health team beat 150 other entrants to claim top prize for this incredible piece of work that we are so proud of.

Have a read below of the significance of the work and how the group achieved the unbelievable outcome in the link here.

AHCSA Sexual Health Team’s winning People’s Choice Award Sexual Health Poster.

Meanwhile last week VACCHO co-hosted a workshop with the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA), bringing together representatives of 12 Specialist Medical Colleges.

The workshop centred on improving the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors in Specialist training. Whether it’s radiology, dermatology, surgery, or any other specialty, colleges need to develop culturally safe and supportive training pathways to help grow the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Specialists in our health services.

VACCHO acknowledged the deadly work AIDA is doing to build strong partnerships across the health workforce, to develop future generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors.

Participants of the VACCHO and AIDA workshop.

Governments must act to raise the age

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations have welcomed the release of a government report and called on Attorneys-General to immediately act on its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility with no exceptions. The report was prepared by a Working Group chaired by the WA Department of Justice, and included representation from justice departments from each state, territory and the Commonwealth government.

The Council of Attorneys-General Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group report lists recommendations based on the findings of the review stating: “A primary recommendation to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years without exceptions.” The report, prepared in 2020, was informed by over 90 public submissions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations and experts. The Human Rights Law Centre previously made repeated Freedom of Information requests to obtain a copy of the report, with all requests refused.

The current low age of criminal responsibility disproportionately impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and is a key driver of contact with police and the criminal legal system. Raising the age would reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in prisons and help governments meet their Closing The Gap targets. The report noted that to turn “the tide on First Nations incarceration rates requires Commonwealth, state and territory governments to work in partnership with First Nations people and organisations.”

To view the Human Rights Law Centre article Governments must act on justice department advice to #RaiseTheAge to at least 14 in full click here.

Improving lives and mental health of youth

Each year the achievements and contributions of eminent Australians are celebrated through the Australian of the Year Awards by profiling leading citizens who are role models for us all. They inspire us through their achievements and challenge us to make our own contribution to creating a better Australia. The Awards honour an exceptional group of highly respected Australians who ignite discussion and change on issues of national importance. The Australian of the Year Awards provides everyone with the opportunity to recognise any Australian who makes them proud. The four Australian of the Year categories are:

Australian of the Year
Senior Australian of the Year (those aged 65 years or over)
Young Australian of the Year (ages 16 to 30)
Australia’s Local Hero

Jahdai Vigona has received the 2023 NT Young Australian of the Year award. Jahdai Vigona is at the forefront of mental health programs educating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. A proud Tiwi Islands man, he is passionate about improving the lives of Indigenous people.

WellMob: An Introduction

WellMob have produced a short, animated video WellMob: An Introduction describing the WellMob website. WellMob is a digital library of wellbeing resources made by and for our mob. These resources include apps, podcasts, websites, videos, social media and printable wellbeing materials. There are also training resources to support workers.

The WellMob: An Introduction video is for anyone interested in digital wellbeing resources, including health and wellbeing workers – it is from e-Mental Health in Practice and hosted by the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet.

You can access more information and training resources from the WellMob website here.

Trailblazing Indigenous doctor

Trailblazing Indigenous doctor Dr Mark Wenitong has received an honorary Doctorate from Central Queensland University Australia, celebrating almost three decades of work to improve the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples. Dr Wenitong, who is also board deputy chair of Community Enterprise Queensland, is one of Australia’s first Indigenous doctors and a leader and mentor in driving better First Nations healthcare.

Since graduating from Newcastle University Medical School in 1995, Dr Wenitong has practiced across central Australia and now in Far North Queensland, and was a founding member of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA). Dr Wenitong has been the Public Health Medical Advisor at Apunipima Cape York Health Council since 2008, where he continues to practice clinical medicine and remote health service systems and program delivery.

In addition to being an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Dr Wenitong is the strategic advisor for the Lowitja Institute, Research Knowledge Translation and the inaugural Co-Chair of the Queensland Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statewide Clinical Network. Dr Wenitong was previously appointed as the Aboriginal Public Health Medical Officer, and the acting chief executive at the NACCHO in 2012. It has been a long and remarkable journey.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Trailblazing Indigenous doctor honoured for outstanding career and contribution to First Nations health in full click here.

Dr Mark Wenitong. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Dec 12 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: RACGP calls for QLD government to come clean

RACGP calls for QLD government to come clean
Concerns mob missing out on eating disorder treatment
Remote housing: holding government to account
Nine-year-old ‘doctors’ set to graduate
NT facing COVID-19 spike
Australia’s annual sexual health check up
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is from an RACGP newsGP article ‘Very disappointing’: UTI pharmacy prescribing pilot extended indefinitely published on 4 July 2022.

RACGP calls for QLD government to come clean

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has called on the Queensland Government to come clean on the North Queensland Retail Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot. It comes following the RACGP lodging a Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) request to the Queensland Health Department on 28 March this year – 256 days ago. So far, no information has been forthcoming. The application sought access to meeting agendas, meeting papers (including notes and briefing papers), minutes, correspondence, budget documents and briefings relating to the pilot.

The college has previously cautioned that the pilot will fragment care and put patient safety and wellbeing at risk. In October this year, the RACGP doubled down on warnings that the experiment will result in poorer health outcomes for patients and much higher healthcare costs. Since then, several jurisdictions including Victoria and NSW, have forged ahead with their own pharmacy prescribing plans.

RACGP President and Mackay-based GP Dr Nicole Higgins said that scrutiny of the pilot was needed more than ever. “This is not rocket science, if due process has been followed then these documents exist, and it is in the public’s interest to know what they contain, especially as this pilot is the product of an election promise rather than responding to a demonstrable public need,” she said.

To view the RACGP media release What is the Queensland Government hiding on the controversial pharmacy prescribing pilot? in full click here.

Image source: The Conversation.

Concerns mob missing out on eating disorder treatment

AJ Williams was just 15 years old, lying in a hospital bed, when a psychologist told him they didn’t know how to treat him. His condition wasn’t rare – diagnosed with bulimia, AJ was one of more than 1 million people living with an eating disorder in Australia.For the Wiradjuri and Wotjobulak man, it had been an agonising, secretive three-year battle with the disease. Suffering an abusive home life and relentless bullying at school, he was 15 when he started purging. “I couldn’t control anything,” he said. “All I could control was what I put in my mouth, and what I could get out of my body.” His eating disorder continued undetected, until one day, he was hospitalised after passing out at school. But “they didn’t know how to treat me, because there was nothing in research on how to treat a young Aboriginal male,” said Mr Williams.Experts say there is still a pervasive misconception that eating disorders are a “rich white woman’s issue”. But the data paints a starkly different picture. According to the Butterfly Foundation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience eating disorders at a similar rate to others in Australia – a rate of 1 in 10 people. However, recent research shows rates could be even higher. A 2020 study in SA showed almost 30%of Indigenous adults met the criteria for an eating disorder, compared to 18% of non-Indigenous adults. Meanwhile a 2017 study in NSW found Aboriginal adolescents were 1.4 times more likely to have an eating disorder than non-Aboriginal adolescents.

To view the ABC News article Concerns Indigenous Australians missing out on eating disorder treatment in full click here.

Wiradjuri and Wotjobulak man AJ Williams battled bulimia for three years. Image source: ABC News.

Remote housing: holding government to account

Royal Darwin Hospital’s Dr Nerida Moore and paediatric registrar Dr Tasmyn Soller have co-authored an article about how overcrowding and poor-quality housing are significant driving forces of death and disease in remote communities of the NT, saying “As health care workers, we bear witness to the devastating impact that overcrowding and grossly substandard infrastructure brings. We see mothers who are desperate to find solutions to enable them to wash their children’s clothes, limited by access to washing machines, power and water. Likewise, we see families advocating to reduce overcrowding in their community who are told to wait patiently for nearly a decade for a new house to be built.”

Inadequate housing and overcrowding are at crisis level in many parts of the NT – a fact that has been established over many decades. In Australia, the highest levels of overcrowding occur in very remote communities. In 2019, it was estimated that 51% of Indigenous Australians living in very remote communities resided in overcrowded homes. Estimates suggest an extra 5,000 homes are needed by 2028 to reduce levels of overcrowding to an acceptable level.

It is therefore unsurprising that remote communities experience some of the highest rates of devastating and preventable diseases such as acute rheumatic fever (ARF), rheumatic heart disease (RHD), acute post streptococcal glomerulonephritis, chronic suppurative lung disease, skin infections and otitis media. These diseases, even though they have different pathophysiology, all have common links to the social determinants of health. This is further highlighted by the steep decline of these diseases globally as living conditions have gradually improved across the world.

To view the InSight article Remote community housing: holding government to account in full click here.

Gloria Chula lives in a three-bedroom house of 16 people in Wadeye, one of the Northern Territory’s poorest and most troubled Indigenous communities. Image source: The Islander.

Nine-year-old ‘doctors’ set to graduate

A group of primary school-aged “doctors” are set to graduate in Melbourne’s north and become life-long health ambassadors for themselves and their communities. The 30-odd students in grades three and four at Reservoir East Primary School are graduating from the 15-week Malpa Young Doctors for Life program this week.

The program is culturally derived and teaches both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children traditional ways of healing, along with modern ways of keeping communities healthy. Interstate, nine South Australian schools signed up in 2022, and three schools are also part of the program in NSW in Dubbo South, and in Smithtown and Kempsey West in the Mid North Coast region.

The program “equips them with Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge which they end up sharing with others – I believe they are closing the gap for themselves,” Malpa leader Mel Harrison said. “At Reservoir, one of the main benefits is that it has dramatically improved school attendance. “The way the program is designed means that every child feels some form of success in Malpa.”

To view the Milton Ulladulla Times article Nine-year-old ‘doctors’ set to graduate in full click here.

Students from a primary school in Melbourne took part in the Malpa Young Doctors for Life program. Image source: Milton Ulladulla Times.

NT facing COVID-19 spike

COVID-19 cases have doubled in the NT in the past week, rising faster than anywhere else in the country. The NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says the NT has moved out of the COVID-19 emergency phase but Aboriginal health care providers say that call is premature. Angus Randall reports that health services are very worried about a Christmas peak. The NT recently recorded a worrying COVID milestone, 100,000 cases since the start of the pandemic. Experts say that is likely an undercount, but the trend in the official numbers shows a steeper rise in the NT right now than anywhere else in Australia.

John Paterson the CEO, of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT) said “Up until this year we’ve had 40 Aboriginal deaths in the NT, it’s killing Aboriginal people at younger ages, with the highest numbers of deaths in the 60-69 age group then the 50-59 age group compared to over 80 for the non-Aboriginal population, so you can see the Aboriginal population is at most risk.”

Mr Paterson is concerned about what will happen over the coming weeks as those in remote communities travel to the more populated centres during the Christmas season. “It is unfortunate and I think premature that governments are taking their foot off the pedal and not giving this issue the attention it deserves given we are now seeing a rise in COVID-19 numbers again. Our advice would have been to wait until after the Christmas New Year period to see what the numbers are like and reconsider any other public measures we might need to take during that period.”

You can listen to The World Today ABC broadcast NT facing COVID-19 spike in full here.

Photo: Steven Schubert, ABC News. Image source: ABC News – The World Today.

Australia’s annual sexual health check up

New data released last week by the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney reveals how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted testing and diagnoses of sexually transmissible infections (STI) in Australia. The report titled HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia: Annual surveillance report shows that in 2021 there were 86,916 diagnoses* of chlamydia, 26,577 of gonorrhoea and 5,570 of infectious syphilis in Australia.

“Prior to the pandemic we were seeing increases in chlamydia and gonorrhoea, but in 2021 we recorded a small decline. We believe this reduction is a consequence of both reduced testing and reduced sexual activity with new or casual partners, due to social restrictions and lockdowns during 2020 and 2021,” says Dr Skye McGregor from the Kirby Institute, one of the report’s authors. “On the other hand, syphilis has been steadily increasing among women of reproductive age, gay and bisexual men and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This reflects sustained and ongoing transmission across Australia, which is extremely concerning.”

To view the scimex article Australia’s Annual Sexual Health Check Up: STIs are mostly down, but reductions in testing could be the cause in full click here.

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) webpage of 1800 My Options website.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Dec 6 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: NACCHO Deputy CEO talks about HIV

NACCHO Deputy CEO talks about HIV
Calls to stop ‘pipeline’ of shattered children
Kids face higher rates of skin infections
Healthy Skin Week in Maningrida
Informing National Health and Climate Strategy
Winnunga Nimmityjah health centre opens
Sector Jobs

The image in the feature tile is of NACCHO Deputy CEO Dr Dawn Casey PSM.

NACCHO Deputy CEO talks about HIV

Yesterday NACCHO Deputy CEO Dr Dawn Casey spoke to Lola Forester on Blackchat, Koori Radio 93.7 FM about positive actions being taken to get the right information out to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about HIV. Dr Casey said the community is tracking pretty well in terms of the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people contracting HIV and cases being reported. She said there’s been a massive program, funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, over the last couple of years where many of the ACCHOs are involved in running programs for overall blood borne viruses (BBV) and STIs. Communities have made significant headway in terms of creating awareness about BBVs and STIs and prevention. Stigma and shame around HIV however continues to be a problem.

Dr Casey said so much more awareness needs to happen so people understand HIV is not threatening like it was many years ago. An issue that needs to be improved considerably is partner notification and contract tracing. ACCHOs are doing an incredible job with prevention programs and awareness campaigns, in language where required, around BBVs, STIs and HIV. Dr Casey and Lola reflected on the very inventive and funny ways ACCHOs have been getting the message out about safe sex, including condom trees.

You can listen to the 10-minute Koori Radio Blackchat radio interview in full by clicking here.

Koori Radio 93.7 FM Blackchat presenter Lola Forester.

Calls to stop ‘pipeline’ of shattered children

The Yoorrook Justice Commission has called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to at least 14, to help stop vulnerable Indigenous children getting “lost in the pipeline” of child protection and criminal justice systems. The Standing Council of Attorneys-General – a group of attorneys-general from federal, state and territory governments that focuses on best practices in law reform – will review the age of criminal responsibility when it meets later this week.

Counsel assisting the Yoorrook Justice Commission Fiona McLeod, SC, urged the council to consider First Nations people, “the many, many reports into this issue” and the testimonies that would be heard at the commission’s public hearings this week. McLeod said the number of First Nations children in out-of-home care in Victoria was “heading in the wrong direction” and contributing to a high incarceration rate among First Nations people. “It appears the current system is failing in its fundamental object of child protection,” she said. “It appears it is broken. It is fuelling a pipeline of shattered children straight to our health services and our criminal justice system.”

To view the WAtoday article Call to raise age of criminal responsibility and stop ‘pipeline of shattered Indigenous children’ in full click here.

Kutcha Edwards and niece Eva Jo Edwards are survivors of the stolen generations. Photo: Simon Schluter. Image source: WAtoday.

Kids face higher rates of skin infections

Bacterial skin infections and atopic dermatitis may be underdiagnosed among urban Indigenous children, says a WA dermatologist and researcher. A systematic review, published in Pediatric Dermatology, assessed the burden of atopic dermatitis and bacterial skin conditions in Indigenous children and young people living in urban environments in high-income countries.

Researchers included 16 papers from Australia, NZ, Canada and Greenland spanning 26 years. “Atopic dermatitis is common among urban-living Indigenous children in high-income countries with current symptoms and current severe symptoms higher than their non-Indigenous peers,” the researchers wrote. “This may suggest under-treatment of atopic dermatitis, reflecting the socioeconomic disadvantage that disproportionately affects Indigenous people, creating financial barriers to primary and dermatologic care, prescription treatments, and costly skin care regimens.”

The researchers said S.aureus colonised the skin in atopic dermatitis, exacerbating the disease and increasing the risk of bacterial skin infections. “Untreated bacterial skin infections can lead to serious complications including sepsis, post-infectious glomerulonephritis, and rheumatic heart disease,” they wrote. Urban-living Indigenous children in Australia and other high-income countries shared a history of colonisation, displacement and negative impacts on health, said lead author and dermatologist, Dr Bernadette Ricciardo from the University of WA and the Telethon Kids Institute.

To read the Medical Republic article Kids face higher rates of infections click here.

Image source: Medical Republic.

Healthy Skin Week in Maningrida

Mala’la Health Service recently coordinated Healthy Skin Week to promote early identification and treatment of skin infections in a bid to lower long term health conditions such as Acute Rheumatic Fever, Rheumatic Heart and Kidney Disease. Over five days, the dedicated crew of Aboriginal Community Health Workers, Nurses and Volunteer Doctors assessed and treated more than 1,200 people in Maningrida and outstations. Outreach clinics through late night shops, child and family centre and public spaces around the community provided extra points of access for the community.

Natasha Bond was involved in leading the community response with home-to-home visits and workshops to provide health information and support. “Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a huge concern for our mob, we have the highest rates of RHD in the world. We want to encourage everyone to work on this together, get treatment straight away and stop further health complications”.

In the lead up to Healthy Skin Week, West Arnhem Regional Council coordinated hard-rubbish collections with Stedman’s also coming on board to provide Skip Bins at various sites. Maningrida College hosted multiple workshops with the school students from kindy to seniors’ cohorts. These Workshops were delivered by the Mala’la team of Aboriginal Health Workers in-training, Natasha Bond and Eileen Gunabarra alongside Jennifer Damsey in Burarra and English languages.

To view the West Arnhem Regional Council article Healthy Skin Week in Maningrida in full click here.

Image source: West Arnhem Land Regional Council website.

Informing National Health and Climate Strategy

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and leadership will inform climate health policy and action at all levels under a discussion paper that is being circulated for feedback to inform development of a National Health and Climate Strategy. This is the first of six principles informing the paper, and “recognises the role of First Nations people in protecting and caring for Country, that Indigenous ecological knowledge should be considered in policy development, and that First Nations’ engagement will lead to better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

Other principles informing the paper are that:

a more sustainable healthcare system will improve public health outcomes
all Australians have equal access to a strong and climate-resilient health system, both now and in the future
evidence underpins strategies and actions
all levels of government and stakeholders work in partnership to implement agreed focus areas and actions
a health lens is applied to climate change policy.

The paper asks readers to consider whether other principles should be considered. “For example, should transparency, reporting and accountability also be included as a key principle underpinning the Strategy?” While the paper “acknowledges that some populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, rural and remote communities, elderly Australians and Australians from lower socio-economic backgrounds, are more vulnerable to poorer health outcomes from the impacts of climate change”, it does not mention the term ‘health equity’. Nor does ‘climate justice’ rate a mention.

To read the Croakey Health Media article On the National Health and Climate Strategy, how’s it shaping up? in full click here.

Raylene Lenmardi and Sumayah Surprise, Ngurrara Rangers. Image source: WWF Australia.

Winnunga Nimmityjah health centre opens

The Winnunga Nimmityjah health centre opened in a formal ceremony on Saturday 3 December 2022 is the first purpose-built facility of its type in the ACT. CEO Julie Tongs said “This building is a huge game-changer in many ways and is a true testament to Aboriginal self-determination.” She said it was needed because the life expectancy of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait islanders was still far behind that of the wider community.

The elegant purpose-built building in Narrabundah will serve about 5,000 people a year in about 60,000 visits. “We’ve got so many people who are vulnerable,” she said. “Here, in Canberra, people think it’s the land of milk and honey but it’s not for a lot of people.”

At a cost of $20 million, it will provide a wide range of medical facilities for Aboriginal people in the territory. There are six GPs, three nurse practitioners and 14 nurses. Physical and mental health will be dealt with at the centre. Julie Tongs is clearly very proud. “This is a huge deal because it’s what our community deserves,” she said.

To read The Canberra Times article Winnunga Nimmityjah health centre, the ACT’s first Aboriginal-run health centre, to open in full click here.

Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services chief executive Julie Tongs at the new centre. Photo: Keegan Carroll. Image source: The Canberra Times.

Sector Jobs

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

NACCHO Aboriginal Health News Alerts

The national authority in Aboriginal primary health care – Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands

Category Aboriginal youth

2023 CTG report calls for greater and faster change

Early Years Strategy must focus on equity and justice

First podcast for mob with disabilities

Culture + Kinship program has positive outcomes

Scholarship helps Palm Is AHW realise dream

Pioneering Cape ear health program gaining traction

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Genuine engagement needed over consultation

$32m+ for First Nations health research projects

Program to help teens get a good night’s sleep

Conference to examine rural health challenges

Scholarship opportunities for First Nations nurses

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National Close the Gap Day

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Closing the gap in preterm birth rates

Karlie one of growing number of Aboriginal doctors

Healing walk to honour those lost to suicide

Healthy food in remote NT a priority

AMA urges action to save patients on PBS medicines

Breakthrough partnership to benefit remote communities

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Concrete action needed to address disparities

FASD Communications and Engagement Grant

How to improve health equity for young men

Why members joined the Coalition of Peaks

VtP is a beginning, not an end

Unlocking hope for people with kidney disease

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Mitigating the impacts of racism on health

Lifetime Achievement Award for Fran Vaughan MPS

RACGP and NACCHO aim for preventive healthcare

Keeping kids connected to siblings and culture

Enduring disgrace of deaths in custody

TB outbreak on the APY Lands

Sector Jobs

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Pharmacist Scholarship Applications Open

Scholarship opens door for speech pathology career

Celebrating WorldPride with WSLHD’s Darren Lee

Long COVID causing job losses and homelessness

Virtual reality part of mental health trial

Alice Springs alcohol rehabs desperate for support

Sector Jobs

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Indigenous-run renal facility celebrates 20 years

KAMS shares James Memorial Award

Why Keating’s Redfern Speech still matters

Criminal age can save lives, inquiry told

Taking the stress out of heatwaves

Indigenous leadership key to halt Nature’s destruction

Sector Jobs

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2023 National COVID-19 Health Management Plan

NACCHO affiliates doing us proud

Governments must act to raise the age

Improving lives and mental health of youth

WellMob: An Introduction

Trailblazing Indigenous doctor

Sector Jobs

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RACGP calls for QLD government to come clean

Concerns mob missing out on eating disorder treatment

Remote housing: holding government to account

Nine-year-old ‘doctors’ set to graduate

NT facing COVID-19 spike

Australia’s annual sexual health check up

Sector Jobs

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NACCHO Deputy CEO talks about HIV

Calls to stop ‘pipeline’ of shattered children

Kids face higher rates of skin infections

Healthy Skin Week in Maningrida

Informing National Health and Climate Strategy

Winnunga Nimmityjah health centre opens

Sector Jobs

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