Category Mental Health

For further information contact
NACCHO Communications and Media
nacchonews@naccho.org.au
Tel 0401331251Lifeline 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 http://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 www.kidshelp.com.au
MensLine 1300 78 99 78 www.mensline.org.au
beyondblue 1300 22 4636 www.beyondblue.org.au
Qlife 1800 184 527 http://www.qlife.org.au /

27 June 2024

The NACCHO Sector 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.

FASD Strong Born Grants are Back!

Applications Open: 26 June 2024 
Applications Due: 19 July 2024, 23:00 AEST / 11pm Canberra time  

NACCHO invites applications for the third round of the FASD Strong Born Campaign grants. ACCHOs can apply for funding to raise awareness, enhance resources, and strengthen workforce capability around fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).  

Funding and Activities: ACCHOs can apply for grants of up to $60,000 (GST excl.), depending on annual client numbers. Example activities include:  

  • Creating locally relevant communications materials and resources by using existing ‘Strong Born’ campaign materials. This covers translation services, design, printing, and publishing costs.  
  • Hosting FASD community events and yarning circles.  
  • Conducting FASD information and awareness sessions for staff and community members.  

Refer to the funding guidelines for more information on eligible activities.  

Eligibility: 
All ACCHOs are strongly encouraged to apply, regardless of whether they currently deliver FASD-specific programs or received funding under Grant Rounds 1 or 2 in 2023.  

Timeline:  

  • Applications Open: 26 June 2024  
  • Applications Due: 19 July 2024, 23:00 AEST / 11pm Canberra time  
  • Applicants Notified: August 2024  
  • Implementation Period: September 2024 to May 2025  

How to Apply: 
To apply, please complete the short application form, below. Key documents to assist with the application process include:  

Questions: 
Please reach out to the NACCHO FASD Grants team at fasdprograms@naccho.org.au with any questions – we are here to help!  

  

Victorian Rural Health Awards: Recognising Excellence in Rural Health

The Victorian Rural Health Awards, hosted annually by RWAV since 2005, hour the outstanding contributions of rural health professionals across Victoria. These awards celebrate the exceptional work of medical professionals, nurses, allied health professionals, Aboriginal health workers, and practice managers in rural communities. 

In a significant win for our community, Ms. Shannon Balfour, from Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative in Mooroopna won this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Award.  

This award highlights significant contributions in providing care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and communities. 

Shannon Balfour, is a proud First Nations woman and manages the Woongi Unit at Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative in Shepparton-Mooroopna. She oversees a range of mental health and social and emotional well-being programs, including Alcohol and Other Drug support, counselling, post-discharge care, family violence support, and other healing initiatives. Shannon has enhanced group yarning sessions, clinical care, language lessons, and holistic well-being approaches.  

She has forged partnerships with mainstream services, secured a psychiatrist, linked Woongi to First Nations discharge plans, and collaborated with the University of Melbourne and local TAFE for student placements. Shannon’s efforts have significantly increased service use by the local First Nations community. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Management for the Bridge Youth Services in Shepparton and actively engages with the local community. 

Big Congratulations Shannon and Rumbalara!  

For the full story, click here. 

Shannon Balfour, Manager at Woongi Unit, Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative

Shannon Balfour, Manager at Woongi Unit, Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative

Transforming Australia’s Mental Health System Through the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration

Webinar Highlights Mental Health Impacts of Voice to Parliament Referendum
A recent webinar hosted by Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia on 21 June examined the impacts of the Voice to Parliament referendum on the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Participants discussed findings from focus groups that revealed the racism and stress experienced by these communities during the referendum, underscoring the importance of initiatives like the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration to promote social and emotional wellbeing.

Rachel Fishlock on the Declaration
Rachel Fishlock, CEO of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia, describes the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration as a call to action for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership in the Australian mental health system. The Declaration aims to achieve the highest standards of social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Social and emotional wellbeing, a multidimensional concept defined by connections to body, mind, family, community, culture, Country, spirit, and ancestors, is integral to maintaining good mental health. It is shaped by experiences of colonisation, intergenerational trauma, racism, and structural discrimination.

Systemic Changes for Mental Health
The Declaration, built on principles from the 1989 National Aboriginal Health Strategy and the 1995 Ways Forward Report, calls for recognising First Nations concepts of wellbeing across Australia’s mental health system. It promotes a balance of clinical and culturally informed responses and stresses the importance of First Nations leadership and values in mental health services.

To translate the Declaration’s goals into action, a Framework and Implementation Plan have been developed. These outline strategies and priorities for the next decade, focusing on cultural strength, best practices, evidence, First Nations presence, and leadership.

Urgent Need for Action
Highlighting the urgency of this work, Fishlock points to alarming statistics: in 2022, the suicide rate for First Nations men was 2.6 times higher than for non-Indigenous men, and 2.5 times higher for First Nations women. Reducing suicide rates and ensuring high levels of social and emotional wellbeing are critical concerns.

Implementing the Declaration represents an important step for mental health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country. As the recent Productivity Commission’s Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap noted, systemic changes are necessary. The full implementation of the Declaration could lead to substantial improvements in mental health and wellbeing.

For the full story, click here.

For more information on the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration, visit Gayaa Dhuwi.

Group of people in circle from diverse culture holding hands.Cooperation and teamwork.Community of friends or volunteers committed to social issues for peace and the environment.Top view

Photo credit: iStock / melitas

 

Celebrating the Next Generation at the National NAIDOC Awards

The National NAIDOC Youth Award nominations are shining a light on the incredible achievements of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities.

Dante Rodrigues: Tiwi Islander Fighter
Dante Rodrigues, a Tiwi Islander, is a professional fighter who represented his community and Australia at the World Kickboxing Championships in Portugal. Overcoming a difficult upbringing with domestic violence, substance abuse, and crime, Dante turned to sports to improve his mental and emotional well-being. Diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, and anxiety at 18, he co-founded the One Percent Program with his cousin Jahdai Vigona. This program helps men in the Northern Territory become their best selves.

Piper Stewart: Swimming Advocate
Piper Stewart, a proud Gulidjan woman, faced her fear of swimming at a young age and founded Bambigi at just twelve years old. Bambigi funds six months of swimming lessons for Aboriginal kids in the Griffith region, addressing financial and transport barriers. Piper’s efforts have increased Indigenous participation at local pools, improving water safety and confidence.

Ieyesha Roberts: Kidney Health Advocate
Ieyesha Roberts, a 24-year-old Dunghutti woman from Kempsey, was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure at twelve. Now a research assistant at the University of Sydney, Ieyesha advocates for Indigenous health, particularly kidney health. Her work on the CARI clinical guidelines ensures culturally safe treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Despite her own health challenges, Ieyesha’s dedication has significantly impacted the lives of others.

These young leaders exemplify resilience, innovation, and a commitment to their communities, proving that the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is bright.

This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is: Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.

NACCHO invites Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners to nominate themselves and/or others to be part of NACCHO’s, Keep the Fire Burning NAIDOC series where we will acknowledge and celebrate the critical contribution they make in ‘keeping the fires burning’ in our sector and our communities.

We just need:

  1. A photo of your beautiful face!
  2. A couple of sentences answering the question:
    What does this year’s theme mean for you? What ‘ignites the fire in you, to do your job?
  3. Send your nominations to: nacchonews@naccho.org.au

For the full story, click here.

NAIDOC WEEK Logo

 

New Resources to Enhance Cultural Safety in Psychology Supervision

The Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP) at The University of Western Australia has launched an innovative set of free resources aimed at increasing cultural safety in psychology supervision. The “Listening More: Embedding Cultural Safety in Supervision” initiative, led by Noongar woman and clinical psychologist Belle Selkirk and her colleague Dr. Joanna Alexi, offers tools to help psychology supervisors work more effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Under the guidance of Bardi woman and psychologist Professor Pat Dudgeon AM, the initiative is part of the Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing research project. The resources include a guide, a manual, and a reflective journal designed to address the critical need for culturally safe supervision practices in psychology.

“It is every psychologist’s responsibility to be able to work in culturally safe ways with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and this includes culturally safe psychological supervision,” said Ms. Selkirk.

These resources come at a crucial time, coinciding with proposed changes in the Psychology Board of Australia’s competencies for general registration, and aim to support the 46,000 registered psychologists in Australia.

The Listening More working group, which includes representatives from AIPEP and the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association, has produced these resources with support from the Australian Psychological Society, Australian Psychology Accreditation Council, and Heads of Departments and Schools of Psychology Association.

For more information and to download the resources, visit the AIPEP website.

For more information about the Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing research project, visit their website, here.

For the full story, click here.

Hand of young supportive man consoling his friend with post traumatic syndrome

Image source: iStock /shironosov

 

First Nations Women Demand Action for Female Prisoners

A powerful roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra has brought to light the urgent issues faced by First Nations female prisoners, calling for immediate government action. The event, part of the Truth Telling Yarns: Women in Prison series, was organised by Sisters Inside, an independent community organization. Former inmates and community groups shared their harrowing stories during the discussion.

Debbie Kilroy, CEO of Sisters Inside, stressed the need for First Nations communities to support their own people. “Communities need to be re-imagined by themselves to build modes of safety and security without any castle (law enforcement) tentacles,” Kilroy said. She highlighted the historical and ongoing harm faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women since colonization.

Statistics reveal a grim reality: First Nations women and girls are the most imprisoned female group globally, accounting for two in five incarcerated women in Australia, with over 80 percent being mothers. Kilroy described this as a “crisis,” comparing it to the Stolen Generations, with many jailed mothers denied custody of their children.

Senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurring woman, spoke at the roundtable, arguing that incarceration and police intervention are not the solutions. “Communities can self-determine their own destiny, their own solutions,” said Senator Thorpe, who co-chaired the discussion with Senator Fatima Payman and MP Bridget Archer.

The need for community-based intervention programs was underscored by a report from the Justice Reform Initiative. The “Jailing is Failing” report highlighted research showing that early intervention programs could reduce reoffending among at-risk populations by 50 percent, preventing their entanglement in the justice system.

Kilroy called for government action, urging leaders to commit to real change. “We just need a government that has got the guts to put their money where their mouth is and actually act,” she said.

For more details, read the full story on ABC News.

Photo credit - ABC News, Jono Searle, AAP PHOTOS

Photo credit – ABC News, Jono Searle, AAP PHOTOS

Tax Time Scammers Targeting Remote Communities in WA

Community announcement.

Financial counsellors and community leaders across Western Australia’s remote north are raising alarms about an increasing number of tax time scammers targeting residents in remote areas. The ABC has identified Facebook accounts impersonating Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) interacting with people who appear to reside in the Kimberley region.

Elder Monica Stumpagee, from Beagle Bay, 130 kilometres north of Broome, expressed her concerns after being financially hit by the collapsed Youpla funeral fund in 2022. This experience has left her and others wary. “Who will we go to? We might get scammed again. We don’t know what to do, we’re just sitting on the edge,” she said.

Ms. Stumpagee has noticed an increase in scams within her community, including Facebook requests from accounts posing as deceased family members. “It’s really getting frequent… now we’re getting scammed on our phones, they’re pretending to be dead family members,” she explained.

Ms. Stumpagee is now participating in financial counselling sessions in Beagle Bay to educate her community. “I’m aware of all that now and I’m not going to fall for any tricks,” she said. “What can we do? We vulnerable people get scammed all the time, so we try to help each other.”

Broome Circle financial counsellor Veronica Johnson works with remote communities throughout the Dampier Peninsula to build the capacity of community members to protect themselves from scams. “[It’s] absolutely devastating for clients who are vulnerable, who are just now being taken for another ride in believing it’s Centrelink… when it clearly is not,” she said.

Last year, Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams, with older people suffering the greatest losses according to a report by the consumer watchdog. Elderly residents in remote communities are often a greater target for scammers, as noted by Ms. Johnson.

Athena Sarah, who works with Home Aged Community Care (HACC) in Beagle Bay, has also observed a rise in online scams targeting residents. She emphasised the need for banks and Centrelink agents to visit remote areas to assist the elderly. “It’s hard because you have some old people who don’t have transport to go into the bank or Centrelink,” she said.

Kevin Collard, Consumer Protection senior regional officer for the Kimberley, urged residents to report any scams to the WA government’s ScamNet website. “People may feel embarrassed or a degree of shame because they’ve been a victim of a scam,” he said. “It’s important to report so that more of the community can become aware of the types of scams that are out there.”

Stay vigilant and report any suspicious activities to help protect our communities from scammers.

To read the full story on ABC, click here.

Multi-generational indigenous Australian family, three generations of Aboriginal Australian women

Photo credit: iStock / Thurtell

Celebrate Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health: Nominate Now for the 2024 NAATSIHWP Awards!

Nominations close 5pm July 15, 2024.

Nominations are now open for the prestigious 2024 National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP) Excellence Awards!

These awards shine a spotlight on the outstanding achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners who have made remarkable contributions to their communities and workplaces.

This is a chance to honour individuals and organisations that are creating exemplary models of care, fully engaging and supporting the career paths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners.

The awards are open to those who meet the eligibility criteria in the following five categories:

  • NAATSIHWP Young Warrior: Celebrating rising stars who are making a significant impact early in their careers.
  • NAATSIHWP Individual Champion: Honouring individuals who have shown exceptional dedication and achievement.
  • NAATSIHWP Workforce Legend (or Respected Elder): Recognising the invaluable contributions of experienced professionals and elders.
  • NAATSIHWP Models of Care and Career Pathways Innovation: Acknowledging innovative approaches to care and career support.
  • NAATSIHWP Board Memorial Lifetime Achievement: This esteemed award, previously known as the Lifetime Achievement Award, is nominated and selected by the NAATSIHWP Board.

The winners will be celebrated at the 2024 NAATSIHWP Conference “Reaping the Rewards of Resilience” Gala Dinner, taking place at the Perth Convention Centre on the night of September 3, 2024.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to highlight the heroes in your community. Submit your nominations before COB on July 15, 2024.

Let’s come together to celebrate resilience, dedication, and excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health!

To see the full details, click here.

Photo credit: NACCHO

 

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.

17 June 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

New guaranteed funding boosts ACCHOs nationwide

First Nations health services will have certainty to plan for the medium-term future, as the federal government announced four-year rolling funding agreements from 1 July, along with a $300m funding boost. ACCHOs play an integral role in First Nations health and self-determination, delivering holistic, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate health care to the community which controls it. Last year, 120 ACCHOs delivered health care to more than 410,000 people in First Nations communities across the country. NACCHO Acting CEO Dawn Casey said the new rolling arrangements and increased funding would provide “crucial financial stability” for the sector. “This recognition further reflects the Sector’s longstanding provision of healthcare across diverse settings, from very remote to urban areas,” Dr Casey said.

Indigenous Minister Linda Burney said the government knows “communities have the solutions to so many challenges that face us. This new funding agreement will give ACCHOs the certainty they need to plan for the future, and work towards long term solutions.” Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy said ACCHOs “are a place that’s culturally safe for First Nations people to go to. They are also fluent in languages; for example, in Miwatj with the Yolngu language in central Australia, there are certainly languages there that need to be spoken and interpreted. So, it is a place that First Nations people feel they can go to talk about really important health issues.”

She highlighted the role ACCHOs play in education, noting it is a key component of chronic disease prevention. In reference to the NT – where more than 30% of residents identify as First Nations – Senator McCarthy said places such as Ampilatwatja which will see its funding increase by 5%, while there will also be increases for Anyinginyi in Tennant Creek, Katherine West, the Laynhapuy Homelands in northeast Arnhem Land and the Marthakal Homelands Aboriginal Corporation.

To view the National Indigenous Times article New funding and four-year guarantee boosts Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations nationwide in full click here.

Linda Burney and Malarndirri McCarthy

L-R: Linda Burney and Malarndirri McCarthy say ACCHOs are vital for First Nations health outcomes. Photo: AAP. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

Telstra outage causes ACCHOs to temporarily shut

Two SA Aboriginal health services say they have had to temporarily close their clinics due to a nationwide data outage impacting some Telstra customers, which has also left three councils unable to perform critical services for almost two weeks. Yadu Health Aboriginal Corporation in Ceduna, on the west coast of SA, is one of the organisations impacted. Its CEO, Simon Prideaux, said the corporation had been without access to patient medical records, allergy information, specialist letters or appointment bookings since 1 June, prompting it to temporarily close its clinic this week.

“It’s extremely limiting the medical care that we’re able to provide safely … [and] it’s very concerning considering most of our cohort are Aboriginal people with chronic illnesses,” Mr Prideaux said. “We’ve had a loss of specialists coming over with their flights, their salaries and their accommodation that we’ve already pre-paid. We’ve had to cancel diabetes educators because we’re unable to access their bookings and phone numbers for clients, so the list is quite extensive.”

The Nunyara Aboriginal Health Service in Whyalla has also had to cancel its services, including visiting specialists. “It’s very frustrating not only for the backlog of work that people are going to have to do, but for all of the patients who are really quite vulnerable, walking around not being able to access healthcare,” Nunyara CEO Cindy Zbierski said. “It’s a lot safer to not provide a service and so we’ve been providing transport to other services and the hospital.”

To view the ABC News article Telstra outage forces Aboriginal health clinics to temporarily shut and causes ‘frustrating’ disruptions at regional councils in full click here.

sign at front of Nunyara Aboriginal Health Service Inc indicating location of parking

The Nunyara Aboriginal Health Service at Whyalla is one of the medical clinics that has been forced to shut. Photo: Nunyara Aboriginal Health Service. Image source: ABC News.

Telehealth program to provide support after infant loss

Cassidy Barlow’s friends didn’t understand when she told them her daughter was born sleeping. Health workers and relatives couldn’t always find the right words to comfort the 18-year-old after Delylah was stillborn at 24 weeks in 2020. With the Queensland health system in lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barlow was often alone without any visitors. Then when she tried to access mental health support, she was turned away due to long waiting lists. “Having a healthy baby is isolating on its own but having a baby where you don’t get to bring them home is even more isolating,” Barlow said.

Barlow is one of many women whose stories informed the launch of a new national perinatal psychology service. The telehealth program is run by social enterprise Rural Health Connect. It is funded by the federal government for four years to support rural, Indigenous, migrant and young women and families after infant loss. Rural Health Connect founder Megan Gomez said the service aims to overcome common barriers to accessing care, like distance, social stigma, long waiting times and high costs.

“Telehealth has really changed everything for people living in the bush,” Gomez said. “Before, you had to drive to the practitioner you wanted to see and you didn’t have any choice in who you could see. Now, suddenly, you can access an expert in a particular field even if they live in another state.” The platform’s psychologists have been given specialist training in perinatal support, including culturally sensitive care. Patients need to be referred by their GP and bulk billing or low gap fees are available for those in financial need.

To view the SBS News article When Cassidy’s baby was stillborn, she couldn’t access support. Now, that’s changing in full click here.

Waminda midwife Mel Briggs

Waminda midwife Mel Briggs says stillbirth can be reduced in Aboriginal communities through early and frequent access to trusted, professional and community-based maternity care that is immersed in tradition and culture. Photo: Janie Barrett. Image source: The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘If the land is sick, so are we’

First Nations peoples have been present on the Australian continent for more than 65,000 years. During this time, they have managed to develop and maintain continuous, unbroken connections with the land, water and sky. Understanding the deep interrelatedness between humans and their (human and nonhuman) kin and ancestors instilled a sense of responsibility, through custodianship of their environment. The aim of this was to survive, and to promote a sense of ecological and cosmological balance. Indigenous Australian spiritualities understand this balance, which is essential to living in harmony with all things in creation.

More than two-thirds of young Australians are experiencing eco-anxiety, while almost half of Australians believe our country is in “decline”. First Nations spiritualities may have some answers. First Nations spirituality promotes a strong sense of interrelatedness and interconnectedness between all things, particularly people and the planet. Aboriginal Elders have said we are a reflection of the Country: if the land is sick, so are we. If the land is healthy (or punyu), so are we.

Wik First Nations scholar Tyson Yunkaporta says our collective wellbeing can only be sustained through a life of communication with a sentient landscape and all things on it. In a time when we as a global human population are navigating the complex challenges of modernity, an immersion into First Nations’ spirituality may help us better live in harmony with all things – and importantly, ourselves and each other. We can explore the depths of these teachings and learn to appreciate them (rather than appropriating them) by reconnecting with the land in meaningful ways, under the guidance of First Nations Elders and Traditional Custodians.

To view The Conversation article ‘If the land is sick, so are we’: Australian First Nations spirituality explained in full click here. 

Nourlangie Rock, the site of Aboriginal rock art in the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park

Nourlangie Rock, the site of Aboriginal rock art in the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park. Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP. Image source: The Conversation.

Indigenous knowledge and global health strategies

The first regional World Health Summit took place in Melbourne earlier this year (22–24 April 2024), bringing together participants from around the world to explore the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, climate change and planetary health. Under the bold theme, “Shape the future of health across Asia and the Pacific”, this ground-breaking conference, the first of its kind in the region, united over 1,100 participants from Australia, the Pacific region and worldwide from diverse spheres of global health. During the Summit emphasis was placed on the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, climate change and planetary health.

The health of Indigenous peoples, and their long-held world views were repeatedly highlighted for inclusion and respect in global health strategies. The challenges and opportunities presented by the intertwined issues of Indigenous knowledge, climate change and planetary health are vast and demand a hopeful and deeply considered approach to discourse and action. The way forward must be collaborative, integrating scientific research with Indigenous wisdom to develop health strategies that are effective, sustainable and culturally respectful.

The summit’s focus on planetary health, emphasised by the presence of global health leaders and Indigenous scholars, sends a strong message: the health of humanity is inextricably linked to the health of our planet. This realisation should drive all stakeholders, including governments, health care providers and academia, to pursue a more integrated approach to health that respects and learns from Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. The Summit set the stage for continued dialogue and action that bridges Indigenous knowledge and scientific research to tackle the pressing health challenges of our time. As we move forward, it is essential that these discussions translate into actionable strategies that prioritise the health of both the planet and its people, ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.

To view the InSight+ article Indigenous knowledge meets global health strategies at regional World Health Summit in full click here. 

gathering of World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2024 at Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre foyer

The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2024 was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Photo: World Health Summit Melbourne. Image source: InSight+.

Bra fittings helping save rural women’s lives

Not far from yacht clubs, shimmering beaches and five star resorts, a homeless woman had sought shelter from the summer heat and humidity. Crisis counsellor Jane Holmes found her beneath the Sundale Bridge on Queensland’s Gold Coast, in agony. Lily quietly lifted her shirt to reveal severe chafing, having never been able to afford a bra. “It was absolutely horrific, it really shook me to the core,” Ms Holmes said. “I couldn’t believe in a first world country that is so wealthy we had a person in a situation where she couldn’t afford a bra.”

Lily was the catalyst for Ms Holmes to launch the charity Support the Girls, which offers free bra fittings, underwear and menstrual products to women in rural and Indigenous communities. A van dubbed Brabarella hits the road with volunteers and donated items on board, reaching more than 2,000 women in regional Queensland and NSW each year. The organisation has partnered with BreastScreen NSW and Aboriginal health organisations to encourage more than 400 Indigenous women to have mammograms since last May.

The program boosted screening rates from 9% to 74%in some areas, providing scans and fittings in culturally safe environments that fostered conversation and compassion. It’s crucial to reach Indigenous women, who are often highly reluctant to get checked, BreastScreen NSW health promotion officer Heather Hillam says. “For Aboriginal women, the idea of being vulnerable and standing naked from the waist up and having someone touch and move their breast … a word you hear a lot is ‘shame’,” she said. “But the prospect of having a bra fitting and a lovely, supportive women-only environment has been enough to get a lot of women over that fear.”

To view the Australian Associated Press article How bra fittings are helping save rural women’s lives in full click here.

Support the Girls worker sorting bras

Support the Girls offers free bra fittings to rural and Indigenous women. Photo: Support the Girls/AAP. Image source: The Advocate.

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.

12 June 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

NACCHO to co-design lung cancer screening program

Australia’s first new cancer screening program in 20 years, the National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) is on track to start in July 2025. The program will be available to people aged 50 to 70 years who have a history of cigarette smoking and do not have symptoms of lung cancer. It will support free, low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans every 2 years, with new Medicare items.

The Australian Parliament passed the National Lung Cancer Screening Amendment Bill 2024 on 16 May 2024 to allow the program to be established. The Australian Government has invested more than $60m in organisations assisting with designing and developing the program, including a partnership with NACCHO to co-design the program with and for First Nations people, ensuring it is culturally safe.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in Australia, and disproportionately affects First Nations people and people living in rural and remote areas. In 2023, an estimated 14,800 Australians were diagnosed with lung cancer and 8,700 Australians died from lung cancer. By finding lung cancer in its early stages, when it is more treatable, the program is expected to save around 500 lives each year.

You can read more about the National Lung Cancer Screening Program here and view the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care media release Progress towards the National Lung Cancer Screening Program in full click here.

tile vector of lungs & text 'National Lung Cancer Screening Program'

Image source: Cancer Council NSW – X Post 4 May 2023.

Culturally informed model helps mob with heart disease

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to have a heart attack, and be on average 20 years younger than the non-Indigenous patient in the hospital bed next to them when they do.  Staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane could see first-hand that our health system wasn’t delivering the care First Nations patients needed, so they sought to develop a culturally informed model of care for First Nations patients with heart disease. The results of a trial of the model indicate this culturally informed model of care eliminated the gap between First Nations patients and non-Indigenous patients when we looked at heart health outcomes after they left hospital.

The model was developed for First Nations patients with acute coronary syndrome and the project co-designed with First Nations stakeholders. Training was tailored and delivered to build cultural capability across the cardiology department and to increase staff knowledge of relevant services available to First Nations patients outside the hospital. Staff formed formal partnerships with local ACCHOs. They improved the hospital environment with First Nations artwork and uniforms (displaying First Nations flags and artwork). They brought together a “Better Cardiac Care” team including an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hospital liaison officer, a cardiac nurse and a pharmacist. This team visited First Nations patients at their bedside, providing additional support, advocacy, education and care co-ordination.

Patients could confidently ask questions and yarn about their diagnosis and treatment in their own words without feelings of shame or embarrassment. The team was focused on the patient’s needs. For example, they could co-ordinate accommodation for a patient’s relative who was travelling to the hospital from far away. They could tell a patient’s doctor if the patient needed more time to talk or make a decision, or a better explanation. Before the patient left hospital, the team could co-ordinate with the patient’s local chemist to supply their medications and book a follow-up appointment with their GP.

To view the The Conversation article How a culturally informed model of care helped First Nations patients with heart disease in full click here.

Aboriginal woman in hospital bed with woman from the Aboriginal Interpreter Service & health professional

Photo: Menzies School of Health Research. Image source: CKN article Single test could rule out heart attack in Indigenous Australians.

Stigma less but schizophrenia services haven’t improved

Raewyn Pepper screamed for days when she checked into a Tamworth mental health hospital in 1996, thinking she had been operated on. By that stage, the then 38-year-old had been suffering from hallucinations and hearing voices in her head for several months. “I was apparently screaming for a couple of days before I had any intervention.” She was diagnosed with schizophrenia, brought on by extreme pressures from her transport business and family life.

Ms Pepper said during the 1990s she was able to receive in-home care, with mental health nurses visiting her regularly. Now she can get medication to help manage lingering symptoms and local services to help with basic living assistance. But when more severe symptoms emerge she heads to the emergency department. “Before you could ring the local mental health hospital, or your mental health nurse and they would come and support you,” Ms Pepper said. Her concern with the current system is that people experiencing schizophrenia may not go to hospital on their own because they are unaware of what is happening to them. “By the time they get noticed they are very unwell,” she said.

Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia chief executive Tony Stevenson said mental health had been neglected by state and federal governments for decades. “Governments promised when they closed psychiatric institutions in the 1980s that there would be support available for people to live well and to live safely in the community,” he said. “That’s with housing, employment, just the daily living skills.” Recently, the NSW Legislative Council found the fragmentation of mental health services in NSW had led to extraordinary difficulties for mentally ill people and their carers.

To view the ABC News article Stigma around schizophrenia has improved but services have not, Raewyn Pepper says in full click here.

Dr Amanda Cohn

Dr Amanda Cohn says people with complex mental health issues do not know where to go for support. Image source: ABC News.

Smokers and vapers urged to ‘Give Up For Good’

Advertising agency BMF has created the integrated ‘Give Up For Good’ campaigns for the Australian Government. The national public health campaigns work to help Australians give up vaping and smoking, particularly targeting at-risk groups and young Australians. Falling under the behaviour change platform, the campaigns are structured around three streams: Youth Vaping, Tobacco, and Adult Vaping. All campaigns are aimed at increasing awareness and reinforcing the harms of vaping and smoking, and highlighting the tools and resources available to help people quit.

Tom Hoskins, group creative director, at BMF, said: “Recent research revealed that people who vape are more likely to take up cigarette smoking, compared to those who have never vaped. And, with access to these products becoming increasingly difficult due to regulatory change, there is an increasing need to support people to quit. So, addressing the wider issue effectively meant creating nuanced and audience-specific work that talks to the insidious nature of both vaping and smoking.

The anti-smoking campaign for the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care – targeted to all adult Australian smokers – highlights why smoking is one of the most harmful behaviours we can adopt, acknowledging that whilst quitting is hard, the alternative is harder. The adult anti-vaping campaign reinforces the support and tools available to vapers, to help them quit the habit.  The youth anti-vaping campaign aims to re-frame the social norm of vaping, asking young Australians to have a moment of self-reflection and ‘join the thousands quitting vapes’. Also under the ‘Give Up For Good’ platform Carbon Creative have developed anti-smoking messaging to communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To view the Mediaweek article BMF encourages smokers and vapers to ‘Give Up For Good’ in government campaigns in full click here.

Dr Helen Milroy keynote speaker at AIFS conference

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) biennial conference commences in Melbourne today, with internationally renowned researchers and experts in the family wellbeing space gathering at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Importantly for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, AIFS’ Dr Kristel Alla will be presenting a preliminary report on the benefits of nature play, highlighting that children spend a large proportion of their time indoors, and why this is problematic.

Keynote speakers include:

  • expert in gender equity, family care time, employment-care balance and social policy, Professor Lyn Craig
  • Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and child psychiatrist, and expert in Aboriginal mental health provision, Dr Helen Milroy
  • clinical psychologist, researcher and leading men’s mental health expert, Dr Zac Seidler, and
  • speech pathologist, autism researcher, community advocate for children and science communicator, Professor Andrew Whitehouse.

More than 700 delegates from the child and family wellbeing sector are expected to attend the conference, held over four days with speakers including researchers, policy makers, service providers, practitioners and thought leaders from around Australia and overseas. Dr Emily Stevens will present a new report on improving the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children – a collaboration between AIFS and the Australian Human Rights Commission, with funding from The Ian Potter Foundation.

You can find more information about the conference here and view The Sector article AIFS biennial conference kicks off at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in full click here. 

portrait photo of Prof Helen Milroy & AIFS 2024 conference logo

Professor Helen Milroy. Image source: Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia website. AIFS 24 Conference logo from AIFS website.

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.

International Men’s Health Week – 10–16 June 2024

International Men’s Health Week celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and takes place from Monday 10 June to Sunday 16 June 2024. This year’s theme is Men’s Health Checks.

International Men’s Health Week is a great opportunity for organisations, workplaces, and communities to focus on some of the different ways to keep men and boys healthier, including taking advantage of the Australian Men’s Health Forum’s (AMHF) free Know Your Man Facts toolkits. These toolkits cover a range of men’s health topics, such as Men’s Mental Health, Men’s Heart Health, Exercise + Men’s Health, and Mateship + Men’s Health. The latest toolkit on Men’s Health Checks, explains how health checks can save lives, and which ones men should have at different life stages.

You can access the Know Your Man Facts toolkits and find more information about Men’s Health Week 2024 on the AMHF website here.

2024 International Men's Health Week 10-16 June; older ATSI man having a vaccine

Image source: Healthy male webpage Support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health project.

7 June 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

Long-term harm to health, wellbeing and life chances

SA’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People says First Nations children’s rights are being “trampled on” by what she describes as an “institutionally racist” child protection system. In the Holding on to Our Future report tabled in SA parliament this week, Commissioner April Lawrie found that in a single calendar year, one-in-two SA Aboriginal children are reported at least once to child protection authorities, and one-in-10 are placed in out-of-home care.

The 176-page report has made 48 findings and 32 recommendations to reduce the number of First Nations children in the child protection system. “The state is unnecessarily removing disproportionate and growing numbers of Aboriginal children from their families and communities, causing long-term harm to their health, wellbeing and life chances,” Ms Lawrie said.

The report found there was not enough funding for early intervention services for vulnerable Aboriginal children, the Department for Child Protection’s (DCP) cultural responsiveness was “severely lacking”, and there was a lack of consultation with Aboriginal families and communities on decision-making. It recommended that child protection laws be amended to insert the Child Placement Principle and that DCP work in partnership with the Aboriginal community to improve outcomes for First Nations children. Ms Lawrie said “unnecessary removals” of children from families were often used as the first option rather than a last resort and were “preventable. Our families could have been afforded referrals into early help services to address the underlying causes of the issues in the first place that have them, before child protection.”

To view the ABC News article Aboriginal children ‘unnecessarily’ removed from families, communities in SA, report finds in full click here.

SA's Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People April Lawrie

SA’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People April Lawrie. Photo: Che Chorley. Image source: ABC News.

R U OK? Conversation Convoy visits Karratha

Content warning: This article contains reference to suicide. Please refer to the services at the bottom of this article for support.

The R U OK? organisation has well and truly permeated the Australian consciousness. Each advertisement, yellow wristband, or slogan iced on office cupcakes is a reminder of the organisations core message – to talk to one another earnestly about how we are feeling. However, what many Australians might not know is that the organisation which breeds such positivity is rooted in a tragic, though common, story. Gavin Larkin founded R U OK? in 2009 in response to losing his father to suicide as a teenager.

The national campaign aimed to shift negative stigma that surrounded mental health issues, and carve a space in Australian society for open dialogues on the matter. R U OK? remains vigilant on spreading their message to every Australian and achieves this through their Conversation Convoy Program. The Conversation Convoy involves a travelling series of buses loaded with R U OK employees as well as mental health professionals, who stop off in regional towns and set up a day of activities and foster community discussion.

The program stopped off In Karratha this week on Tuesday 4 June and was warmly welcomed by a chorus of Pilbara residents. Residents were deeply moved by the space R U OK? provided for them to gather, share a cup of tea, and support each other’s wellbeing. It’s events such as these that leader of the R U OK? Stronger Together campaign for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Steven Satour believes can erode the shame some men have about discussing mental health, “The conversation convoy’s and the R U OK men’s sheds really do a lot to shift the toxic male stereotype that says being a man means never talking about your feelings.”

To view the Busselton Dunsborough Times article R U OK? Conversation Convoy fills Karratha Community Cup in full click here.

3 images: R U OK? Conversation Convoy visit to Karratha - R U OK? banners, umbrellas, Jenga game with mental health Qs.

Photos: R U OK?. Image source: Busselton Dunsborough Times.

13 Yarn (13 92 76)
Brother-to-brother (1800 435 799)
Lifeline (13 11 14 + online chat)
Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800 + webchat)

Other support lines:
MensLine Australia (1300 78 99 78)
Suicide callback service (1300 659 467)
Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636)
Qlife – anonymous LGBTIQ support (1800 184 527 + webchat)

WA student awarded Indigenous Medical Scholarship

Kahlie Lockyer, an accomplished artist and medical student at the University of WA, has been awarded an AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship. The scholarship will be presented at the AMA-AIDA Taskforce on Indigenous Health meeting today on Ngunnawal land in Canberra, where health leaders will discuss strategies to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly will address the taskforce, attended by representatives from the AMA, Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association and NACCHO.

Ms Lockyer said her heart is in developmental paediatrics with a focus on early intervention of health issues in young Indigenous children. “I believe our children are our future, and if we can start with managing preventable diseases in young Indigenous children, then that can lead to them having a better education and better outcomes for their future,” Ms Lockyer said. “There is growing evidence showing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are being missed by the health system in diagnosis, whether it’s a learning disability, neurodivergence, or other conditions, which consequently leads to lower education, health literacy, employment rates and higher incarceration rates.

“This is all intertwined and I believe the childhood years is where the biggest impact can be made.” The 35-year-old — belonging to the Ngarluma and Karriyarra people from the Pilbara region and the Yawuru and NyulNyul people from the Kimberley region — grew up in Port Hedland, WA. It was here the seed was planted for a promising future in medicine. “My interest in health started in my childhood as my mother was a nurse. She would go out and teach first aid and health courses in different communities, and I would always be the kid that would tag along and help her,” Ms Lockyer said.

To view the AMA media release WA student with passion for developmental paediatrics awarded AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship in full click here.

WA uni medical student Kahlie Lockyer

University of WA medical student Kahlie Lockyer. Image source: AMA website.

Health funding projected to decline in real terms

According to an analysis by Charles Maskell-Knight PSM, who was a senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021, “We could take the Government’s commitment to closing the gap more seriously if it was prepared to commit funding over the medium term, allowing grant-funded organisations stability and certainty.” Mr Maskell-Knight suggests that spending on health functions and programs should grow by a combination of price growth and population growth, together with an allowance for utilisation growth due to ageing.

However, this year’s Budget showed that only three health and aged care programs (MBS, public hospitals, and aged care) were growing faster than price and population growth. PBS and private health insurance rebate spending were barely growing in nominal terms, due to the success of price reduction mechanisms under the PBS, and the presumed stable number of private health insurance policyholders.

Other programs such as First Nations health, health services (population health, medical research, mental health, blood and blood products, other allied health services, and health infrastructure), and administration (including funding for primary healthcare and coordination, investment in health workforce measures, and support for rural health initiatives, as well as the Government’s general administrative costs associated with healthcare) were declining between 2024–25 and 2026–27.

To view the Croakey Health Media article Documenting funding concerns for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and other important programs in full click here.

fluorescent white light in shape of descending arrow

Photo: Samuel Regan-Asante, Unsplash. Image source: Croakey Health Media.

Project promotes mental health of young LGBTQA+ mob

Walkern Katatdjin (Rainbow Knowledge) is a national research project, run by Telethon Kids Institute, Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre (Murdoch University), Edith Cowan University and the University of WA and is funded by the NHMRC. The project aims to understand and promote the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQA+ young people, and to work with services to develop appropriate interventions.

In a recent podcast Shakara Liddelow-Hunt and Tahlia Blow discuss the report and the themes of health, pride, joy, and culture. Peter (Ngaya Ngarigu), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Educator at Thorne Harbour Health was a guest co-host of this episode.

You can listen to the podcast episode Rainbow Mob Health – Reconciliation Week in full click here.

tile with text 'Walkern Katatdjin - Rainbow Knowledge' & logo JOY 94.9 Radio WELL WELL WELL

Image source: Joy Media website.

First Nations doctors need support

AMA Queensland is calling for funding in the state budget to roll out Townsville’s successful Indigenous Intern Pathway across all the state Hospital and Health Services. AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim says the  successful program should be introduced across all Queensland Hospital and Health Services (HHSs).

The AMA Queensland Budget Submission 2024-25 calls for Queensland Health to fund and implement programs such as the Townsville HHS Indigenous Intern Pathway as a priority, “It is disgraceful that First Nations people continue to experience unacceptable differences in health outcomes compared to the general population,” AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim said. “First Nations doctors are an essential component in eliminating this gap – yet we know about 30% of Indigenous doctors leave the profession altogether. Our First Nations communities must receive the culturally appropriate, best practice health care they deserve.”

AMA Queensland is also calling for investment and support for programs advocated for by First Nations health organisations including the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH) and the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC). These include Mob Link, Birthing in Our Community, Surgery Pathways, Deadly Choices, and the Indigenous Hospital Network Wisdom Group. “We are also calling on the government to reverse its decision to prohibit Aboriginal health services from owning local community pharmacies,” Dr Yim said.

To view the AMA Queensland article First Nations doctors need support in full click here.

Dr Rebecca Alverez, Ngunnawal woman & junior doctor at Townsville Uni Hospital

Dr Rebecca Alverez (R) was the first doctor to take part in the Indigenous Intern Pathway, a mentorship program designed to provide culturally appropriate support for Indigenous doctors. Image source: Qld Government website.

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.

3 June 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

Organ donation would be higher if more education

Leslie Schultz spent years watching birds flit past his window. But without their song in his ears, the scent of eucalypts in his nostrils nor the glorious outback sun on his back, the sight only made him homesick for the bush. For the Ngadju Elder, spending hour after hour, day after day, shut inside was one of the worst things about kidney failure. Sometimes it felt his entire life revolved around sitting in a chair, waiting for toxins to be flushed from his blood.

That was until the kindness of a stranger and their family gave him back his freedom. According to a recent inquiry, Australia’s organ donation and transplantation rates are among the lowest in the developed world, and only 36% of eligible adults are on the organ donation register. In 2022, 34 people died while on the waiting list for an organ.

Indigenous West Australians are among those most impacted by the shortfall. The community experiences chronic kidney disease at almost seven times the rate of the wider population — the biggest disparity of all Australian jurisdictions — yet, for a range of complex reasons, are far less likely to ever have the life-saving procedure.

To view the ABC News article Organ donation content rates would be better if there were more education about it, advocate says in full click here.

older ATSI man Leslie Schultz in hospital for kidney transplant

Leslie Schultz had his transplant about three years ago. Photo supplied by: Les Schultz. Image source: ABC News.

NT remote communities way behind on menstrual health

The NT is “behind the rest of Australia” regarding period health, claims a leading menstrual health advocate, who is calling on the Lawler government to make tampons and pads more accessible for remote communities. The claim comes after the Albanese government pledged $12.5m in period products toward remote Indigenous communities as part of the 2024–25 Budget announced in May. Rochelle Courtenay, who founded Share the Dignity – a not-for-profit charity dedicated to making period products accessible to vulnerable women says “The top half of Australia is where we spend most of our (organisation’s) money supporting women.”

This year, Share the Dignity launched a nationwide survey – the Big Bloody Survey – to understand the issues that Australian women face. The survey, which remains live, has garnered more than 150,000 responses so far, however less than 2,000 of the respondents were Territory-based. “There are barriers – not everyone has a laptop or even knows there is an online survey and because of that we don’t hear their voice.” Ms Courtenay said the survey’s preliminary findings were “really sad”. “So far, we know more than 25% of Australian women can’t afford period products and we know that in remote Indigenous communities this is much higher,” she said.

NT Health Minister Selena Uibo said her government had facilitated and signed 15 Local Decision Agreements where the community voices their priorities and are involved in solutions that work for their communities, which often include health priorities. “As part of this, close to half the Territory’s remote primary health centres are run by ACCHOs with local leadership for decision making.” Ms Courtenay, however, said the Territory had engaged with her organisation the least of any jurisdiction and maintained she would reapproach the NT government in the coming months.

The above is an extract from the article Northern Territory’s remote communities ‘way behind’ on menstrual health, says Share the Dignity founder published in the NT News yesterday, 2 June 2024.

NT Health Minister Selena Uibo

NT Health Minister Selena Uibo says the government has empowered local communities to make decisions around health issues. Image source: NT News.

Health campus native landscape use improving wellbeing

Health campuses across Australia can improve wellbeing for both patients and staff by incorporating the natural environment using biophilic design. Biophilic design is an architectural approach to the built environment that enhances human function through nurturing connectivity with nature. It seeks to improve cultural security and health outcomes for Indigenous peoples who are over-represented in Australian hospitals.

A volunteer project at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) is using native landscapes to adapt to climate while enhancing wellbeing, Indigenous cultural security and local biodiversity. Hospital-based care at RDH may be world-class from a Western perspective, but imposes cultural challenges for Indigenous patients who constitute almost 31% of the NT’s population but 56% of inpatients and 83% of renal dialysis patients. National Indigenous rates of “discharge against medical advice” are five times higher than than non-Indigenous rates, reflecting culturally unsafe hospital environments.

The causes for this disparity are complex, but encompass patients reporting loneliness, isolation and lack of cultural safety. 70% of Territorians who live remotely are Indigenous and reside in one of 600 communities or remote outstations. Access to specialist care by these patients comes at a price: separation from country, supportive family networks and place-based spiritual, cultural and healing practices that include the use of bush medicines. Many Indigenous patients prefer to sit outside where they can also avoid constraint by walls and the built environment. This creates a double jeopardy of reducing access to health care that the Western paradigm restricts to hospital interiors, and socialises the perverse view of Indigenous “non-compliance” with ward-based care.

To view the InSight+ article Top End hospital leads the green revolution in health care in full click here.

vegetation planted at the Royal Darwin Hospital

Vegetation planted at the Royal Darwin Hospital. Photo: Mark de Souza. Image source: InSight+.

Football team missing three future leaders this season

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family. This article also contains references to suicide.

Kids and teenagers flock to an AFL field of a coastal Aboriginal community, 1,000 kms east of Darwin to watch the men of the Djarrak football club. Run by Elders of the Rirratjiŋu clan, Djarrak is one of four Aussie Rules clubs on the Gove Peninsula, where kids grow up on the sidelines of the footy field. But three of the club’s brightest leaders will be missing this season. The three Yolŋu men died in a series of sudden tragedies last year. The health crisis in north-east Arnhem Land is also playing out in First Nations communities across the NT and Australia. According to the AIHW, of the 10 Indigenous regions in Australia with the highest rates of avoidable deaths in 2018, six were in the NT.

Steve Rossingh, CEO of Miwatj Health, an ACCHO in NE Arnhem Land says that without the strong cultural leadership of Elders Yolŋu health would be far worse. But Mr Rossingh says barriers in the region including severe overcrowding, limited job opportunities, feelings of disempowerment and the impacts of colonialism and racism make it difficult to have a healthy lifestyle. “If you wanted to nail it onto one thing, it’s that people are living in poverty – which is really hard to believe in a first-world country like Australia, that we’ve got big cohorts in pockets of the country where people are living in poverty,” he says.

And when Yolŋu die young, Mr Rossingh says, the impacts ripple throughout the community, “They are the future leaders, and the less future potential leaders you have, the greater the difficulty in maintaining culture and maintaining order within communities.”

To view the ABC News article Arnhem Land football team without three future leaders this season following series of sudden tragedies in full click here.

Miwatj Health workers at a health promotion stand at the scratch match

Miwatj Health workers at a health promotion stand at the scratch match. Photo: Lillian Rangiah, ABC News.

If you need someone to talk to, call:

Call for First Nations Board member EOIs

The Australian Physiotherapy Council (the Council) is the accreditation authority for physiotherapy education and overseas practitioners who wish to practice physiotherapy in Australia. The Council’s purpose of ‘Ensuring tomorrow’s physiotherapy workforce through providing world class accreditation and assessment services’ is underpinned by a passionate and committed team of people.

As part of their ongoing commitment to diversity and representation, the Council are currently recruiting several Board member roles, including another First Nations Board member to join their Chair Elect Michael Reynolds.

For more details about the role and the application process, please refer to the Call for Expression of Interest, here. If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Council’s Company Secretary Emily Wiltshire here.

Australian Physiotherapy Council logo & vector image ATSI hand holding weight tile from CAAC physiotherapy webpage

Image sources: Australian Physiotherapy Council website; Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Physiotherapy webpage.

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.

Mabo Day – 3 June 2024

 

Mabo Day is marked annually on 3 June. It commemorates Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo and his successful efforts to overturn the legal fiction of terra nullius, or ‘land belonging to no-one’. Short for Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992), the Mabo case, led by Eddie Koiki Mabo, an activist for the 1967 Referendum, fought the legal concept that Australia and the Torres Strait Islands were not owned by Indigenous peoples because they did not ‘use’ the land in ways Europeans believed constituted some kind of legal possession.

Despite the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupied the land, spoke their own languages and had their own laws and customs before the British arrived in 1788, ‘Terra nullis’ was an attempt to give ‘legitimacy’ for the British and Australian governments to allow the dispossession of all Indigenous peoples of their land. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also had – and continue to have – a strong connection to ‘Country’ – the Australian land.

The Mabo case was heard over ten years, starting in the Queensland Supreme Court and progressed through to the High Court of Australia. Following the Mabo decision, Australia’s Federal Parliament passed the Native Title Act 1993 which established a legal framework for native title claims throughout Australia by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Sadly, Eddie Mabo died 5 months before the historic decision came on 3 June 1992 that ‘native title’ did exist.

You can find more information about Mabo Day and Native Title on the Reconciliation Australia website here.

artwork of Eddie Mabo by Gordon Bennett

Eddie Mabo by Gordon Bennett 1996. Image source: Queensland Art Gallery website.

World Eating Disorders Action Day – 2 June 2024

World Eating Disorders Action Day is a grassroots movement designed for and by people affected by an eating disorder, their families, and the medical and health professionals who support them. Uniting activists across the globe, the aim is to expand global awareness of eating disorders as genetically linked, treatable illnesses that can affect anyone. The below list contains nine truths about eating disorders:

  • Many people with eating disorders may look healthy, yet they may be extremely ill.
  • Families are not to blame, and can be the patients and providers best allies in treatment.
  • An eating disorder diagnosis is a health crisis that disrupts personal and family functioning.
  • Eating disorders are not choices, but serious biologically influenced illnesses.
  • Eating disorders affect people of all genders, ages, races, ethnicities, body shapes, weights, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.
  • Eating disorders carry an increased risk for both suicide and medical complications.
  • Genes and environment play important roles in the development of eating disorders.
  • Genes do not predict who will develop eating disorders.
  • Full recovery from an eating disorder is possible. Early detection and intervention are important.

You can find more information about eating disorders, including resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, on the Butterfly Foundation website here.

21 May 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

CTG won’t happen without appropriate SEWB funding

Following the delivery of the 2024–25 Budget this week, Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia welcomed funding for trauma-informed and culturally safe mentoring and assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people engaged in the justice system, as well as funding to continue delivery of targeted and culturally appropriate mental health supports. However, Gayaa Dhuwi is again calling for the Federal Government to appropriately fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB), mental health, and suicide prevention, as there was no mention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SEWB and mental health programs that exist beyond the health system.

“The Budget papers are disappointing, but not surprising”, said Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia CEO Ms Rachel Fishlock. “We need to be looking beyond the health system and supporting the SEWB and mental health of our people before they are in justice or acute crisis situations. “The work of Gayaa Dhuwi aims to ensure our people enjoy high levels of SEWB, particularly through the implementation of the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration. We’ll never close the gap without appropriately funded SEWB and mental health programs.”

“Our people have experienced a failed referendum, COVID, cost of living pressures, and natural disasters, all while dealing with the intergenerational impacts of colonisation”, said Professor Helen Millroy, Chair of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia. “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, workforce, and community are working tirelessly to be present, lead, and excel within Australia’s mental health system and beyond it, but we can’t do it without appropriate funding”.

To view the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) media release We’ll never close the gap without appropriate funding for social and emotional wellbeing click here.

tile with Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia logo; image of Rachel Fishlock & text 'Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia CEO - Ms Rachel Fishlock'

Image source: Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia website.

ACCN to revolutionise cancer care

The landscape of cancer care in Australia is set to transform with the launch today of a new network, the Australian Comprehensive Cancer Network (ACCN), which will link cancer services across Australia, aiming to improve cancer outcomes and experiences for all Australians affected by cancer. While Australia boasts some of the world’s highest cancer survival rates, not all people experience equal outcomes. There are significant disparities in cancer outcomes for some populations, particularly affecting those in rural and remote regions, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The ACCN is a pioneering initiative that aims to address these disparities, emphasising coordinated and equitable access to comprehensive cancer services irrespective of where a person lives, and marking a significant milestone in the advancement of cancer care in Australia. Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCCs) will serve as anchors in the ACCN, connecting various cancer control services nationwide. Through building partnerships and harnessing virtual connectivity, CCCs will collaborate with other cancer care centres, academic institutions, ACCHOs, regional hospitals and allied health services, among others.

The ACCN is a major action of the 10-year Australian Cancer Plan, launched in 2023 to improve cancer outcomes for all Australians, particularly for those groups whose health outcomes are poorest. Achieving equity in cancer outcomes is a fundamental measure of success for the Australian Cancer Plan and will align Australia with global calls to improve cancer outcomes for all people.

You can register interest in joining the ACCN and to learn more about this groundbreaking initiative here.

You can view the Australian Government Cancer Australia media release Australian Comprehensive Cancer Network (ACCN) launches to revolutionise cancer care across the country in full click here.

Cancer Australia tile with text 'Australian Comprehensive Cancer Network Innovations Showcase 21 May 0224'

Image source: Cancer Australia.

Power of Indigenous co-design and intervention

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is hosting a brand new Speaking of Science webinar series. During these of free virtual webinars participants will have the opportunity to engage with our nation’s outstanding researchers, high profile individuals, and scientific experts within their chosen fields, on different topics across the spectrum of health and medical research, as well as connect with peers across the wider sector. There will be a Q&A session at the end of each webinar and questions are encouraged.

During National Reconciliation Week, NHMRS will host distinguished researcher and Indigenous leader, Professor Maree Toombs, for their Speaking of Science May webinar. With over 20 years’ experience in teaching and developing curriculum with an Indigenous perspective both in education and health, Professor Toombs, now the Professor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in the UNSW School of Population Health, is a leader in research focused on mental health and suicide intervention.

In this webinar, Professor Toombs will discuss how unlocking the power of Indigenous co-design and intervention can lead to transformative outcomes through authentic collaboration.

The free webinar will be held from 11.00 am – 12.00 pm (AEST) on Thursday 30 May 2024. You can register here.

You can find more information about the webinar on the NHMRC ‘s Tracker newsletter webpage here.

Professor Maree Toombs & NHMRC speaking of SCIENCE logo

Professor Maree Toombs. Image source: NHMRC Building A Health Australia website.

Self-collection can help stamp out cervical cancer

Australia is on track to being the first country to eliminate cervical cancer, which we aim to do by 2035. To accelerate progress towards this goal, a government-funded national cervical screening campaign will kick off in September, promoting the cervical screening options now available to patients across the country. This campaign will be the first of its magnitude in over 20 years and will likely result in an increase in patient demand, particularly for human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection.

The campaign will be primarily focused on priority patient groups, specifically Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and people with a cervix as well as culturally and linguistically diverse patients, to lift screening rates and improve outcomes for these communities. Now is the time to contact your laboratory to ensure you have the correct swabs and instructions to offer self-collection as an option to all your eligible patients, and to make sure you know the facts about self-collection so that you can support all your patients in their decision making.

There is now a large body of evidence confirming that, provided high-precision polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is used for laboratory processing, self-collected samples are just as sensitive for the detention of CIN2+, adenocarcinoma in situe, and oncogenic HPV as clinician-collected cervical samples. HPV is the cause of almost all cervical cancers. All self-collected samples in the National Cervical Screening Program are processed using PCR technology, which is a regulatory requirement.

To view The Medical Republic article Self-collection can help stamp out cervical cancer in full click here.

real pink & white flower laid out to represent uterus & ovaries

Image source: The Medical Republic.

First Nations cancer clinic opens in Healesville

Eastern Health opened a new First Nations cancer clinic at Healesville Hospital earlier this month (9 May), aiming at delivering free, culturally safe oncology services to the region’s large Aboriginal population. Sadly, research shows that cancer disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria, with the five-year survival rate among Aboriginal Victorians 12% lower than non-Aboriginal Victorians.

Providing medical oncology services, the clinic is staffed with oncologists specially trained in treating the most common types of cancer for First Nations Australians such as lung, prostate, breast, and bowel cancers. Eastern Health cancer services director adjunct clinical professor Phillip Parente said the Aboriginal community chose Healesville to have a new First Nations cancer clinic for themselves.

“I knew from the Bureau of Statistics that the largest Aboriginal population within Victoria resides in Healesville, Eastern Health’s catchment area. I spoke to our Aboriginal health care team and made up a time to meet with patients and families who’ve been affected by cancer in Healesville,” he said. “It was pretty clear to me that the Aboriginal community did not want to go to other Eastern Health hospitals in Box Hill or Maroondah, they wanted to be at Healesville because it’s a culturally safe space for them at Healesville and that’s not replicated at other sites as much. Once I got what they wanted and that was really non-negotiable, if a culturally safe cancer clinic for Aboriginals was going to be set up, the location had to be Healesville.”

To view the Star Mail article One more step forward to making community more inclusive in full click here.

smoking ceremony conducted by Craig Murphy-Wandin, Healesville Hospital

The smoking ceremony conducted by Craig Murphy-Wandin. Photo: Eastern Health. Image source: Star Mail.

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.

National Palliative Care Week 19–25 May 2024

National Palliative Care Week is running from 19 to 25 May 2024. Palliative care focuses on physical, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of care. Palliative care is family-centred. Family, loved ones and carers can also receive practical and emotional support. Early access to palliative care helps people to maintain quality of life by managing pain and symptoms. It’s never too soon to start the conversation about matters of life and death.

When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, or are approaching the end of their life, they should be able to access quality palliative and supportive care that is consistent with their wishes, when and where they need it, no matter where they live. Importantly, this care must be culturally safe and responsive, incorporating the social, emotional, and cultural well-being of the person, as well as their family and the community.

To that end, Palliative Care Australia (PCA) has developed a range of resources, available here, to assist the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, their communities, and health professionals working within communities to ensure approaches and practises are culturally safe and respectful.

You can find advice, tools and support on the Palliative Care Australia website here.

tile with text 'National Palliative Care Week 19-25 Mat - Matters of life and death'

Image source: Palliative Care NSW website.

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development – 21 May 2024

Held every year on 21 May, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) leads the celebration of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development highlighting not only the richness of the world’s cultures, but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development.

The United Nations General Assembly first declared this World Day in 2002, following UNESCO’s adoption of the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, recognising the need to “enhance the potential of culture as a means of achieving prosperity, sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.”

With 89% of all current conflicts in the world occurring in countries with low intercultural dialogue, to forge effective cooperation and sustain peace, strengthening intercultural dialogue must be a priority.

You can find more information about World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on the United Nations website here.

tile un logo; text World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development'; vector image of 10 different nationalities

Image source: MCIS Language Solutions website.

20 May 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

NACCHO Pharmacist Scholarship recipients announced

NACCHO has announced the successful recipients of the 2024 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacist Scholarship:

  1. Dean Webber
  2. James Sowter
  3. Matthew Cloake
  4. Isaac Burgoyne
  5. Shi-Anne Wallace

This scholarship program, proudly supported by a grant from Sanofi Australia, provides subsidy and support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pharmacy students, with the goal of strengthening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pharmacist workforce. The program, which began in 2022 for two students, has now been expanded to include five recipients annually and will continue until 2025, demonstrating Sanofi’s commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

2024 scholarship recipient, Isaac Burgoyne commented, “I am incredibly honoured to have been granted this scholarship from NACCHO for 2024. Pharmacy has always been a passion of mine and the opportunities that this scholarship will open for my future are endless. I am very excited to see what my future will hold with the support from NACCHO and generosity of Sanofi Australia. I will put my rural upbringing to good use and form greater connections between my community and the pharmacy practice.”

Out of over 35,000 pharmacists in Australia only around 100 identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, representing less than 0.3% of the pharmacist workforce. Currently Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in the health sector account for only 1.8% of the total health workforce, despite accounting for 3.2% of the Australian population. This disparity impacts patients, policy and pharmacists themselves and this scholarship is a step in the right direction to increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people graduating from pharmacy studies and entering the workforce.

NACCHO Acting CEO, Dr Dawn Casey, said “Congratulations to all the remarkable recipients of this year’s pharmacy scholarships. The quality of applicants was outstanding once again. We wish you all the best in your pharmacy studies and look forward to supporting you in your professional journey”. Liz Selby, Sanofi Australia, and NZ Country Lead congratulated this year’s recipients, the judging panel, and the NACCHO team for their ongoing leadership in this vital scholarship program. “Building the skills of future Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pharmacists is essential for ensuring culturally safe care within the pharmacy profession. We’re immensely proud to continue our support of NACCHO, this program, and ultimately more equitable health outcomes. Congratulations to Dean, James, Shi-Anne, Matthew, and Isaac.”

To view the NACCHO media release NACCHO 2024 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacist Scholarship recipients announced in full click here.

tile, NACCHO logo & text 'MEDIA RELEASE - NACCHO 2024 ATSI Pharmacist Scholarship recipients announced'

New measures to combat suicide welcome

Leading Indigenous suicide prevention expert Professor Pat Dudgeon, Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at the University of WA, has welcomed important measures in the Federal Budget to address suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, but said further commitment was needed to ensure the sustainability of key programs.

Professor Dudgeon welcomed the focus on systemic issues impacting Indigenous people, including a $10m boost to NACCHO to extend its online social and wellbeing resources and supports, which were initially funded in the context of the referendum on the Voice to Parliament and the rise in racism experienced by Indigenous people at that time. “This funding acknowledges the lived experience of our people and the impact on our wellbeing of continuing discrimination and disadvantage,” she said. “I am pleased to see this funding extended under Indigenous leadership,” she said..”

The Budget did not address continuing funding for the $53 million Culture Care Connect program, the largest ever Indigenous-led mental health and suicide prevention initiative, which is delivered by NACCHO and its member organisations at 31 regional sites. Its current funding ends in June 2025. “I look forward to further announcements about the long-term future of Culture Care Connect, which is an essential component of a culturally safe suicide prevention response for our people and strongly aligned to the recommendations of the forthcoming National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy,” Professor Dudgeon said.

The Budget also includes investment in mainstream mental health supports, including online services for people with less severe conditions, walk-in centres for adults with more complex issues, lived experience workforce development and service redesign for children and young people. Professor Dudgeon said it was vital to ensure these initiatives were also accessible and culturally safe. “We welcome the investment in services that are specific to our communities, but all mental health provision in Australia should be welcoming and supportive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.

To view The University of WA article New measures to combat Indigenous suicide welcomed in full click here.

Professor Dudgeon, Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at the University of Western Australia

Professor Dudgeon, Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at the University of Western Australia. Image source: University of WA website.

FNQ areas: lowest life expectancy in world

People in remote Far North Queensland communities are dying on average 30 years younger than those in Brisbane. New figures from the Public Health Information Development Unit at Torrens University show that the Far North has some of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country. While the average lifespan in Cairns is 76 years, it is just 50 in the Shire of Burke in Far North West Queensland on The Gulf of Carpentaria, adjoining the NT border. Burke’s life expectancy is lower than the country with the lowest life expectancy in the world – the central African nation of Chad – where it is 53.

Only two other areas in Australia – East Pilbara and Ngaanyatjarra (both at 49) in remote WA have a lower life expectancy. Between 2017 and 2021 the median age of death was 53 in Kowanyama, and 54 in Aurukun and Mornington Island. The leading cause of death in Kowanyama is coronary health diseases followed by lung disease and suicide. In Aurukun, Carpentaria and Yarrabah, diabetes is the number one cause.

It is a Closing the Gap target to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by 2031. Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males born in 2020–2022 are expected to live to 71.9 years and females to 75.6 years, and non-Indigenous males and females to 80.6 years and 83.8 years respectively. The life expectancy across those four Far North areas (including Burke) in the Far North puts them below that of a number of lower income or trouble-plagued countries including Papua New Guinea (66), Afghanistan (64), the Democratic Republic of Congo (60), Somalia (57) and South Sudan (56).

Debra Malthouse, CEO of Apunipima Cape York Health, which operates in several areas including Koyanyama and Aurukun said: “Across Cape York, we are almost seeing a mass-comorbidity epidemic, where patients don’t just have diabetes or heart disease for example, they are dealing with multiple chronic health conditions which can be complex and require different types of ongoing care. Overcrowded housing, poor access to good quality and affordable fresh produce, education and poor employment opportunities are just some of the social determinants of health that affect many Cape York communities.” Ms Malthouse said that funding and training for more generalists GPs, Aboriginal Health Practitioners and Aboriginal Health Workers was needed.

The above has been extracted from the article Death towns: These Far North areas have a lower life expectancy than any country in the world published in the Geelong Advertiser article earlier today.

concrete cross with lichen, Cape Banks Cemetery

Cape Banks Cemetery. Photo: Erin Byrne. Image source: Geelong Advertiser.

BHP and Ear Science to improve ear health

BHP and Ear Science Institute Australia have partnered to improve long term health outcomes for Indigenous children living in remote communities. The Healthy Ears on Country program aims to improve long-term health outcomes within Aboriginal communities across the East Pilbara region. Over three years, BHP will contribute $825k to help expand the scope of services available and support the purchase of specialist equipment, additional staff and training for local healthcare providers.

BHP head of corporate affairs Meath Hammond commented on the partnership. “Access to quality health care is an ongoing challenge experienced by regional and remote communities,” he said. “We are proud to partner with Ear Science to support the amazing work they do in the Pilbara, with a long-term vision to improve the ear health and quality of life for Indigenous Peoples.”

Delivered through the Ear Science Healthy Hearing Outback program, in partnership with Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service (PAMS), Healthy Ears on Country will provide innovative solutions to hearing care challenges in the region. The program aims to support the Martu and Nyiyaparli Peoples living in Newman, Jigalong, Punmu, Parnngurr and Kunawarritji, and it’s expected to directly impact more than 500 children.

To view The Australian Mining Review article BHP and Ear Science to improve ear health of Indigenous children in full click here.

Aboriginal child Halen Downs with Audiologist Selina Moyle

Selina Moyle (Audiologist) and Halen Downs. Photo: Serene Bedlam Photography. Image source: The Australian Mining Review.

Cyber security WARNING

On Friday last week (17 May 2024) there was a ransomware attack on MediSecure.

Electronic information about prescriptions in Australia is sent through a secure electronic prescription exchange service. Since November 2023 this service has only been provided by the FRED IT eRx exchange, which was NOT affected by the attack. Before November 2023 some information, such as a small number of electronic prescriptions, went through an alternative MediSecure exchange service.

NACCHO wants to reassure members and patients that current prescriptions are safe. If you or your patients would like to know more the Australian Government National Office of Cyber Security has developed a web page with information and advice for individuals and health care providers. The web page can be found here.

NACCHO would like to take this opportunity to remind members to be vigilant. Please go to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) website, here, for cyber security advice and incident reporting.

black computer screen with green text, silhouette of back of human head

Image: Four Corners: Cyber War. Image source: ABC News.

Maternal and Child Health survey closes 13 June 2024

NACCHO is conducting a sector-wide Maternal and Child Health (MCH) survey as part of a suite of upcoming consultation to inform the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Maternal and Child Health Plan (the Plan) 2025–2035. This Plan will set out an approach to Close the Gap for mums and bubs, and guide governments’ investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander MCH services over the short, medium, and long-term.

The Plan will be informed by extensive consultation with members, including through the survey, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander MCH Expert Advisory Group, responses to a forthcoming discussion paper and a series of face-to-face opportunities for discussion.

Noting the excellent services delivered by members and common experiences faced, we are inviting you to engage in this comprehensive survey to inform NACCHO and Government on the MCH needs of ACCHOs Australia-wide. The survey will only be open until COB Thursday 13 June 2024. We kindly ask that you complete the survey by this date or contact us directly if you wish to engage in a discussion instead.

With your help, we hope to highlight and scale up your successes and sustainably address gaps and barriers to improve MCH services. Please contact the NACCHO MCH team if you require assistance or have any questions about the survey or the consultation process.

The link to the survey was sent last week, in an email to affiliate and member CEOs, EAs and Practice Managers. If you would like the link sent again or you didn’t receive it, please contact the NACCHO MCH team by email here and/or phone (02) 6246 9352.

IUHI Birthing in Our Community worker holding a baby

Image source: Institute for Urban Indigenous Health Child and Family Services webpage.

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

Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.

World Autoimmune Arthritis Day – 20 May 2024

World Autoimmune Arthritis Day on May 20 was conceived by the International Autoimmune Arthritis Movement (I.A.A.M.) to raise awareness about autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases that manifest with arthritis. Autoimmune diseases and autoinflammatory conditions refer to those that cause damage to the body’s organs, tissues or cells because of a hyperactive immune response. Autoimmune disorders occur when the body’s immune system creates dangerous reactions to several factors, making it attack itself. It is estimated that 23.5 million people worldwide are affected by some form of autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune arthritis is an umbrella term covering several different types of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, and gout. There are over 100 different types of autoimmune arthritis. Autoimmune arthritis can cause damage to joints, cartilage, and bone.

Arthritis conditions, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and gout, are common among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, affecting about 85,600 people or more than 10 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. You can find information about culturally appropriate arthritis education resources for Aboriginal people on the Australian Physiotherapy Association website here.

You can find more information about World Autoimmune Arthritis Day on the National Today website here.

tile with blue & purple awareness ribbon & text World Autoimmune Arthritis Day'

Image source: IDEAS website.

17 May 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

Health ministers face questions on the budget

The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHAC) hosted a post-Budget webinar on Wednesday this week (15 May 2024) attended by five health portfolio ministers, including Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. There was little focus on First Nations peoples’ health during the briefing, however, Senator McCarthy did speak of budget measures aimed to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in the areas of overcrowding and homelessness in communities, and there was mention of $12.5m to address period poverty in First Nations communities by delivering free period products and measures to assist nurse practitioners, which will support Birthing on Country.

Tuesday’s budget also contained $10m to maintain investments to the NACCHO) for targeted and culturally appropriate mental health support services. NACCHO and other Aboriginal community controlled organisations, however, are deeply disappointed by the Budget, with some organisations describing it as lacking vision, and “utterly shameful”. According to analysis by health policy analyst Charles Maskell-Knight, nominal growth in spending on First Nations health programs is now negative – spending in 2027–28 is forecast to be less than 2024–25: “We could take the Government’s commitment to closing the gap more seriously if it was prepared to commit funding over the medium term, allowing grant-funded organisations stability and certainty.”

In one of the few opportunities where she was offered a question, Senator McCarthy was asked if those culturally appropriate mental health services would be delivered by ACCHOs. She said the obvious answer was yes, or they would not be culturally appropriate. Other First Nations-related health measures include $11.1m over five years to expand coverage of the Closing the Gap PBS Co-payment Program to all PBS medicines and $94.9m over two years to support management of communicable disease control in First Nations communities.

To view the Croakey Health Media article Health portfolio ministers face (some) questions on the budget in full click here.

tile with black background and 12 question marks in red fluro lights

Photo: Simone Secci, Unsplash. Image source: Croakey Health Media.

ACCHO and school team up to boost attendance

Bridging cultural divides and mapping student support networks will help one school boost its engagement and attendance rates. Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation and Yirrkala School have teamed up to deliver a new program that will equip students with the social and emotional tools to hit the books. Yirrkala School’s attendance in 2023 sat at 50%.

NT Education Minister Mark Monaghan said the homegrown program was designed to strengthen support for students with disability or diverse needs. The program includes mapping a student’s family, education, health, and other support services – and drawing links between them – and supplying de-escalation training to school staff such as using breath work, fidget toys, and providing a “mulka” space for kids to find a safe place to shelter in.

It also builds resources to bridge gaps between Western and Yolngu concepts – such as using Yolngu terminology around “rough waters” and “calm waters” to describe different state of emotional regulation. Mr Monaghan said the school has already seen a drop in the time and resources needed to help students regulate their emotions and a boost in classroom participation. He said the program has supported 40 students, six school staff, and four parents and caregivers since Term 1, 2024. “As a government, we must continue to partner with Aboriginal organisations to get more children to school, to engage them in their learning,” Mr Monaghan said.

To above is an extract from an article Yirrkala School and Miwatj Health team up to boost engagement, attendance published in the Gold Coast Bulletin earlier today.

4 Yirrkala Aborginal students pushing another student on a rope swing

Yirrkala students playing in the school playground. Photo: Floss Adams. Image source: Gold Coast Bulletin.

13YARN inundated with racism-related calls

The Indigenous support line 13YARN, which was set up for mob who are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping, has been inundated by First Nations people calling in this year citing racism as their reason for feeling distressed. So far in 2024, 26% of calls to the national Indigenous helpline have been from First Nations people experiencing racism or abuse. That has risen from 16%  in 2022 to 19%t last year.

13YARN national program manager, Marjorie Anderson said one of the most significant drivers for people seeking help has been racism in the aftermath of the Referendum. “It is sad this is the experience of our people, but we are pleased 13YARN can offer safe, confidential and culturally appropriate support,” she said. “Amid news reporting of the Productivity Commission’s Closing the Gap report we saw around 43% t of calls related to racism, and again, the release of Closing the Gap data saw 47% of calls connected to racism. “These two days represent the single highest figures to date.”

The crisis helpline 13YARN recently reached a significant milestone of 50,000 calls since launching in early 2022. Calls to the support line increased by nearly 50% in the first two years of operation: from around 17,000 calls in 2022 to 25,000 calls in 2023. Ms Anderson said the service’s rapid growth had been responsive to the urgent need for culturally safe and confidential crisis support. “Over the last two years, the demand for help is far beyond what we ever expected and continues to grow,” she said.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Indigenous helpline 13YARN inundated with racism-related calls post referendum in full click here.

13Yarn National Program Manager Aunty Majorie Anderson

13YARN National Program Manager Marjorie Anderson. Photo: NITV News.

What is LGBTQI+ allyship?

To view the The Conversation article What is allyship? A brief history, present and future in full click here.

4 Tiwi Island sistergirls in outfits for Mardi Gras

Tiwi Island sistergirls showing the colourful outfits they prepared for their participation in Sydney’s Mardi Gras. Photo: Twitter. Image source: Creative Spirits website.

Childhood immunisation resources for mob

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) has a range of childhood immunisation resources, listed below, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The resources aim to remind parents and carers of the benefits of vaccination and encourage them to vaccinate on time.

  • One more way you keep your little ones safe – poster – encourages vaccination to protect children from serious diseases
  • Adaptable poster – for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health services and clinics can be adapted to promote local clinic vaccination information
  • Childhood Immunisation helps protect us all – poster – reminds families that vaccinating on time can protect us all from serious diseases
  • One more way you keep them safe – animation – explains all you need to know about childhood vaccinations
  • Vaccines are safe – animation – explains that vaccines have been carefully tested, to protect us from diseases
  • Immunisation protects us like a shield – animation – explains how vaccination provides protection against diseases that can make little ones very sick
  • Nurse Tisha explains why childhood immunisations are so important – video
  • Nurse Kristy addresses common questions from parents – video
  • Health worker Florianna talks about why children need to be immunised – video
  • Health Worker Irene talks about how getting immunised can protect your children – video
  • One more way you keep your little ones safe – height chart – for display in health services and clinics to promote local vaccinations

You can find the resources listed above on the DoHAC Childhood Immunisation resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people webpage here.

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.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia – 17 May 2024

The world is seeing hard-won progress in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people – but there is still a long road ahead. To spotlight the advances and challenges, the theme of today’s International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) this year is: “No one left behind: Equality, freedom and justice for all.”

Social and legal norms have shifted away from criminalising LGBTQIA+ people and towards safeguarding their rights. Since 2019, 11 countries have legalised marriage equality. Since 2017, 13 countries have removed laws criminalising LGBTQIA+ sexuality. Further, policies protecting the rights of sexual and gender minorities are gaining ground at every level. In recent months, United Nations (UN) bodies have called for transgender-friendly HIV care, protection of the rights of intersex people and the end to discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people in health services.

Yet despite the progress, discrimination and stigma remain, leading to serious health disparities and other inequities. In some places, LGBTQIA+ people could face the death penalty because of their identity, leaving them highly vulnerable to rights violations and with limited access to health services. And many political leaders are using polarising policies and harmful rhetoric. LGBTQIA+ people more likely to be forced to confront poverty, violence and other forms of marginalisation. “LGBTQIA+ people deserve full enjoyment of their equal rights just like all others,” Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (the UN sexual and reproductive health and rights agency), Dr Natalia Kanem said. “To truly leave no one behind means safeguarding the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in all settings and including them fully in humanitarian preparedness, response, relief and recovery efforts.”

You can find more information about IDAHOBIT on the United Nations Population Fund website here.

You can also access the article Sistergirls & Brotherboys: transgender and queer Aboriginal people on the Creative Spirits website here.

tile with red, orange, yellow, grey, blue & purple stripes & text 'International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia - 17 May 2024

Image source: Canadian Union of Public Employees.

1 May 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

Indigenous mums taking measures into own hands

Aboriginal mothers and their babies have higher death rates and poorer health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians. New community-led services are trying to change that. Edie recently gave birth to her fourth child. After the birth she took her placenta with her from hospital and buried it close to where she was born. It is something Edie has done with each of her three children. The placenta, she says, is a baby’s first home, so it is buried “on Country” to identify that place as the baby’s home. It gives the newborns their first connection to the generations of ancestors that came before then and the land they inhabit.

The 35-year-old from Brisbane, Qld, is one of a growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who are turning to a movement known as “Birthing on Country” as an alternative to standard maternal services offered by the Australian healthcare system. It is a concept that aims to better meet the needs of Indigenous Australian mothers and their babies. “Birthing on Country connects what we know as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the modern world to what our ancestors did,” says Yvette Roe, a professor of Indigenous health at Charles Darwin University.

Roe, a proud Njikena Jawuru woman herself, is one of the co-directors of the Molly Wardaguga Research Centre at Charles Darwin University’s Qld campus, alongside Sue Kildea, a professor of midwifery. They are at the forefront of research, implementation and collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous health and maternal services. The organisation, established in 2019, was born out of a growing recognition that standard maternal care in Australia was failing to meet the needs of Indigenous women. “The principle of Birthing on Country is that it is baby and woman-centred, rather than seeing birthing through a biomedical model where it is often just a transaction between a mother and a clinician,” says Roe.

To view the BBC article Indigenous mothers are being ‘failed’ in Australia – so they are taking measures into their own hands in full click here.

drawing of ATSI baby held by roots of tree with a border of wattle

Credit Emmanuel Lafont/BBC. Image source: BBC website.

Data underscores rural health investment urgency

A new update released yesterday (30 April 2024) from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that people living in very remote areas were hospitalised at almost twice the rate compared to major cities. Data also shows that access to General Practitioner visits was lowest in remote and very remote communities. “Such appalling disparities should be rectified with targeted investment and innovative approaches. Your postcode should not determine your access to health care,” said National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) Chairperson, Nicole O’Reilly.

According to the AIHW analysis of data from the 2022 Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey, health risks due to alcohol and smoking as well as arthritis, mental health issues and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are some of the significant health concerns that take a toll on rural communities. “We need high quality, culturally safe primary healthcare in rural areas, especially for prevention and management of health and behavioural risk factors and chronic conditions. This would significantly reduce the reliance on the acute hospital sector and rectify enduring disparities in health outcomes,” said Ms O’Reilly.

“The annual health underspend in rural Australian areas is a whopping $6.55 billion which equates to about $850 less spent on health per person per year. It shows that our rural communities are treated as second-class citizens when it comes to health care. The government, therefore, needs to invest in place-based models of care which meet local needs and recognise that funding models that work in the city do not work where markets are thin or failing. The Alliance has proposed a model of care and funding – Primary care Rural Integrated Multidisciplinary Health Services (PRIM-HS) which would be a solution for many rural communities.,” said Ms O’Reilly.

To view the National Rural Health Alliance media release AIHW data reinforces the need for targeted investment in rural health in full click here.

aerial view of remote outback town

Image source: RACGP newsGP article ‘The tyranny of distance’: rural health inequities persist published on 15 December 2023.

Murder of Indigenous women a national crisis

PM Anthony Albanese is discussing the topic of gendered violence, which he describes as a national crisis, with state and territory leaders today.  The latest Homicide in Australia report shows a rise in the number of women murdered by current or former partners. The number of women killed by intimate partners rose by 28% in the 2022/23 financial year with 89% of all intimate partner homicide victims being women, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology report.

Mr Albanese said previous statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) also painted an alarming picture of the murder rate for Indigenous women. “This is a national crisis, and for Indigenous women, they’re 7.6 times more likely to die from homicide, to be killed, than non-Indigenous women,” he told ABC Radio yesterday. “(Preventing violence against women) requires a whole of government and whole of society, including the media and others, to be engaged.”

Updated figures from the Homicides in Australia report showed the homicide rate for Indigenous women was 3.07 per 100,000 people, compared to 0.45 for non-Indigenous women. The PM said national cabinet discussions will focus on solutions to prevent violence against women. The meeting will examine measures to strengthen prevention and focus on online harms, including countering violent and misogynistic content. Further opportunities for states and the Commonwealth to share information about high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders will also be examined.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Murder of Indigenous women a national crisis: PM in full click here.

rally re: violence against women

Indigenous women are far more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women. Photo: Steven Markham/AAP. Image source: National Indigenous Times.

PM says $20m investment ‘making a difference’

PM Anthony Albanese says the purpose of his trip to Alice Springs this week has been to “listen to local people” and determine whether the federal government’s $250m support package for Central Australia has seen positive outcomes. The four-year support package, announced by the Commonwealth after the PM’s last visit to the town in January 2023, includes $40m for on-country learning and $23.5m to improve First Nations health outcomes.

Mr Albanese claimed an increase in school engagement across the Central Australia was due to the recent federal funding boost. “Improved school retention is a pretty good start,” he said. “Enrolments in remote government schools are increasing and the number of children who haven’t been attending schools for 20 consecutive days has gone down and there’s also very early signs that attendance is up right across Central Australia. “The investment is making a difference.”

Michelle Ayres, the Australian Education Union’s NT branch president, said it was too early to tell if the funding boost had meaningfully contributed to improving school attendance. However Ms Ayres said she had received positive feedback from principals in Central Australia whose teachers have benefited from the additional funding. Mr Albanese said Centralian Senior College had used the new funding to support some of its “most disengaged” students, with a marked attendance increase for those taking part in the program. “Attendance is up 37%, a remarkable figure in a short period of time,” he said. Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said “education is the absolute key to turning around the lives and the life outcomes for all students in this region”. But the PM conceded long-term change would take time. “You don’t solve intergenerational disadvantage overnight,” he said.

To view the ABC News article Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Alice Springs, says $20m investment is ‘making a difference’ in full click here.

PM Albanese taking selfie with students of Centralian Senior College

Mr Albanese says attendance rates in Centralian Senior College have improved because of the funding. Lee Robinson. ABC News.

Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale online module

NACCHO has a new online elearning module Perinatal Mental Health Screening and Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women using the Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale for members and non-members.

This module provides a detailed description of how to perform a routine psychosocial assessment with Aboriginal clients using the Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale. It also explains pathways for follow-up and referral, and the importance of psychosocial care.

Those who complete the module should be able to:

  • Understand the unique context of Aboriginal perinatal mental health.
  • Understand approaches to screening that are acceptable for Aboriginal women.
  • Use the KMMS to perform a routine psychosocial assessment for Aboriginal women during pregnancy and in the first year post birth.
  • Understand pathways for follow-up and referral for women at risk of perinatal mental health conditions.
  • Describe psychosocial supports that may be useful for clients with risk factors and/or mild symptoms of a perinatal mental health condition.

You can access details about the module on the NACCHO website here and enrol here.

Rural Clinical School of WA Research Fellow Erica Spry with the KMMS online training program on her laptop

Rural Clinical School of WA Research Fellow Erica Spry with the KMMS online training program for healthcare professionals. Image source: NRHA Partyline online magazine.

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

Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.

World Maternal Mental Health Day

World Maternal Mental Health Day draws attention to essential mental health concerns for mothers and families. Life changes around pregnancy make women more vulnerable to mental illness. The negative cycle of poverty and mental illness impact on a woman’s ability to function and thrive. This may also directly affect her foetus or child, with long-lasting physical, cognitive and emotional outcomes.

Mental health care provides the necessary support to empower women to identify resources and personal capabilities. This can enhance their resilience to difficult life circumstances and support them to nurture their children optimally. Caring for mothers is a positive intervention for long-term social development.

You can find more information on the World Maternal Mental Health Day – 1 May 2024 website here.

World Maternal Mental Health Day 2024 tile - map of world with yellow dots for global partners

Image source: World Maternal Mental Health Day Facebook page.

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

Registrations are open now for Perth: 16-17 April 2024. 

The program is delivered by legal experts and covers:  

  • Delegation of powers 
  • Finance for Boards
  • Governance documents
  • Managing conflicts of interest 
  • Managing risk  
  • Principles of good governance  
  • Structure and role of boards and sub-committees 

To register, go here.

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

29 April 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

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

Danila Dilba hosts Timor Leste delegation

Limited resources including chronic understaffing, with health clinics that are supposed to have five staff making do with one or two. A population that struggles with literacy, poverty and inclusion, worsening health outcomes. Geographic barriers, both in delivering health services and accessing them. Dependency on other jurisdictions to accept referrals in serious cases. One might be mistaken for thinking this is a description of the NT’s health system, but in fact this is a description of the challenges facing one of our nearest neighbours, Timor Leste.

However, the parallels are undeniable and it is why, last Friday Darwin’s Danila Dilba Health Service, an ACCHO that services 17,000 clients and has a workforce of 220, hosted a high-level delegation from the island nation, including its Health Minister, Dr Élia A.A. dos Reis Amaral.

Danila Dilba CEO Rob McPhee said the heart of the ACCHO model was that it is “community-driven, they are run by the community. Our clients always see an Aboriginal person before they see any other clinician. That immediately establishes rapport. It aids with cultural safety and communication as well. Often they [the Aboriginal health practitioner] will know the family or they’ll be able to understand the circumstances of that individual, so it creates this whole lot of understanding right at the beginning of the process, and I think that’s what we can share with place like Timor Leste.

The above is an extract from the article Danila Dilba Health Service hosts Timor Leste delegation seeking solution to health struggles published in the Cairns Post yesterday, 28 April 2024.

Danila Dilba Health Service chairwoman Carol Stanislaus with Timor Leste's Health Minister, Dr Elia A.A. dos Reis Amaral

Danila Dilba Health Service chairwoman Carol Stanislaus with Timor Leste’s Health Minister, Dr Elia A.A. dos Reis Amaral, April 26, 2024. Photo: Alex Treacy. Image source: Cairns Post.

Youth suicide appalling blot on national conscience

Content warning: This article contains reference to suicide. Please refer to the services at the bottom of this article for support.

The death of a 10-year-old boy in foster care is a grimly familiar one. Existing ‘prevention schemes’ aren’t preventing anything and must be reformed. A 10-year-old Indigenous child dies in apparent suicide in WA. Family and community are devastated and the incident is so utterly awful – the child so young – that it catches national attention. It happens in March and a month later, when it’s made public, everyone says something must be done. This wasn’t March this year. It was March 2016.

Eight years ago, the WA coroner, Ros Fogliani, held a special inquiry into the deaths of 13 Indigenous children and young people in remote WA. Fogliani made 42 recommendations – her key observation applied to every case: “The deaths of the 13 children and young persons the subject of this Inquest were all preventable.”

The rate of Indigenous suicide in this country, especially among children and especially in the north-west of WA, should sit as an appalling blot on our national conscience. Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death among Indigenous children nationwide. Five years ago, concluding her report, coroner Ros Fogliani said “mainstream” suicide prevention programs were still being “adapted in an endeavour to fit into a culturally relevant paradigm” instead of being properly designed “in a completely different way”.

To view The Guardian article Indigenous youth suicide is an appalling blot on Australia’s conscience in full click here.

rear of ute on WA remote Kimberley road

he death of young boy in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region is a stark reminder of policy failure. Photo: Richard Wainwright/AAP. Image source: The Guardian.

If this article brought up anything for you or someone you love, please reach out to, call or visit the online resources listed below for support:

13YARN – 13 92 76, 13yarn.org.au

Lifeline – 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636, beyondblue.org.au/forums

MensLine – 1300 789 978

Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800

Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467

More support for Cape and Torres kids

A new child development service is taking referrals for families needing the support of a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist or psychologist. Designed to assess and support children from 0–18 years with complex developmental delays and disabilities, the family-centred service has already received more than 80 referrals after community visits to Bamaga, Injinoo and Thursday Island.

Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) and the Torres Strait were identified as priority areas with higher instances of children with developmental delays, but Torres and Cape Hospital Health Service (TCHHS) said it had been determined to ensure the service could be delivered to all communities within its service footprint. TCHHS allied health manager child development service Natalie Bellew said the team would spread their travel across 34 communities.

“It is so exciting that we have begun delivering this service, and such a benefit that we are able to see these children in their home communities where they can be supported by their whole family,” Ms Bellew said. “The team will work closely with local allied health teams and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, along with our maternal and child health nurses and paediatricians.” While collaborating with local Indigenous health workers, the child development service team will also travel with a First Nations community engagement officer.

To view the Cape York Weekly article More support for Torres and Cape kids with developmental delays in full click here.

child development service team (4 women) for Cape York & Torres Strait

The child development service team will travel across 34 Cape York and Torres Strait communities to support children with developmental delays and disabilities. Image source: Cape York Weekly.

Big diabetes investigation

Tackling the growing problem of diabetes requires action on many fronts, including ensuring that Indigenous communities have affordable access to healthy foods and priority access to essential medicines that are currently in short supply, according to Associate Professor Lesley Russell, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney. Since May 2023 the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport has been conducting – at the request of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler – an inquiry into diabetes. Submissions for this inquiry closed in August 2023 with 470 submissions, available here received.

Recognising the wide range of issues that need to be addressed as part of the broad Terms of Reference, a new series of hearings were convened for November last year and continue into 2024. The Committee travelled to Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community outside of Cairns, to hear from the local ACCHO, Gurriny Yealamucka, about its experiences with diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading causes of the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more than three times as likely to live with diabetes and nearly five times more likely to be hospitalised with diabetes-related complications. A 2022 study showed that the burden of diabetes in the remote Aboriginal population of the NTis among the highest in the world.

You can read NACCHO’s September 2023 submission to the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport’s Inquiry into Diabetes in full here.

To view the Croakey Health Media article The Health Wrap: a big diabetes investigation, questions for the Treasurer, primary care reforms, and the benefits of crochet in full click here.

Gurriny and Yarrabah hosted the committee members of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes

Gurriny and Yarrabah hosted the committee members of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes. Dr Jason King briefed the committee on the many social determinants that impact health in Yarrabah. Image source: Gurriny Yeaelamucka Facebook page 22 November 2023.

Guideline for assessing and managing CVD

The 2023 Australian guideline for assessing and managing cardiovascular disease risk provides updated evidence‐based recommendations for the clinical assessment and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk for primary prevention. It includes the new Australian CVD risk calculator (Aus CVD Risk Calculator), based on an equation developed from a large NZ cohort study, customised and recalibrated for the Australian population. The new guideline replaces the 2012 guideline that recommended CVD risk assessment using the Framingham risk equation.

A variety of communication formats is available to communicate CVD risk to help enable shared decision making. Healthy lifestyle modification, including smoking cessation, nutrition, physical activity and limiting alcohol, is encouraged for all individuals. Blood pressure‐lowering and lipid‐modifying pharmacotherapies should be prescribed for high risk and considered for intermediate risk individuals, unless contraindicated or clinically inappropriate. Reassessment of CVD risk should be considered within five years for individuals at low risk and within two years for those with intermediate risk. Reassessment of CVD risk is not recommended for individuals at high risk.

The updated guideline recommends assessment over a broader age range and uses the Aus CVD Risk Calculator, which replaces the previous Framingham‐based equation. It incorporates new variables: social disadvantage, diabetes‐specific risk markers, diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and use of blood pressure‐lowering and lipid‐modifying therapies. Reclassification factors are also a new addition.

The full guideline and Aus CVD Risk Calculator can be accessed here.

To view The Medical Journal of Australia article 2023 Australian guideline for assessing and managing cardiovascular disease risk in full click here.

woman having blood pressure taken

Image source: Australian Journal of General Practice.

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

Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.

World Day for Safety and Health at Work – 28 April 2024

Yesterday, Sunday 28 April 2024 was World Day for Safety and Health at Work (World Day). The latest data shows that in 2022, 195 workers in Australia were fatally injured at work. This concerning statistic amplifies the importance of increasing awareness around work health and safety (WHS) to prevent work-related injuries and fatalities.

In 2024, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Day theme explores the impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health.  The theme recognises that changing weather patterns can create WHS risks. Heat, flooding, and extreme weather events are increasingly likely to disrupt the normal operation of many businesses.

In addition, new technologies and industries in decarbonisation and the circular economy are emerging, creating new roles. Climate change, increasing urbanisation and proximity of humans and animals have also led to the emergence of novel infectious diseases and increased the transmission and spread of other diseases.

You can find more information about World Day for Safety and Health at Work on the International Labour Organization website here.

tile of globe with yellow hard hat & text 'World Day for Safety and Health at Work'

Image source: iStock.

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

Registrations are open now for Perth: 16-17 April 2024. 

The program is delivered by legal experts and covers:  

  • Delegation of powers 
  • Finance for Boards
  • Governance documents
  • Managing conflicts of interest 
  • Managing risk  
  • Principles of good governance  
  • Structure and role of boards and sub-committees 

To register, go here.

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