(more…)

(more…)

The Advisory Board is constituted of the following members:

• Mick Adams, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
• Ian Anderson, Director of Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit and the Centre for Health and Society, Deputy Head of the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, Research Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, and National Chairperson of teh National Indigenous Health Equality Council
• Jenny Brands, Research and Development Manager of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH)
• Jonathan Carapetis, Director of Menzies School of Health Research
• Mick Gooda, CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH)
• Sally Goold, current Chair and founder of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN)
• Tamara Mackean, President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA)
• Kathy Malera Bandjalan, Editor of the Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal (AIHWJ)
• Ian Ring, Professor of Public Heath and Professorial Fellow-Academic Development, Centre for Health Services Development, University of Wollongong, NSW
• Cindy Shannon, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland
• Ted Wilkes, Associate Professor, National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology, WA
• Ken Wyatt, Director of Office of Aboriginal Health, Health Department of Western Australia
• Representatives from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Lynne Mitchell and Eve Cordeiro

The next meeting of the Board will occur in early 2009.

(more…)

Presentations related to Indigenous health included:

• Al-Yaman F, Wilkes T. The health of Indigenous Australians: Are we making progress? How do we know if we are?
  View presentation (PDF - 206KB)
• Gregory G, Phillips A, Smallwood L. Following the evidence: how people in rural and remote Australia might have ‘equal health’ by the year 2019.
  View presentation (PDF - 415KB)
• Bullock S. Rural health: are we getting the best yield?
  View presentation (PDF - 486KB)
• Hargreaves J. Waiting for care.
  View presentation (PDF - 175KB)

Conference presentations are also available for download in audio format from the presentations page of the Australia’s health 2008 conference web page.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released its publication: Australia’s health, 2008 at this conference >> View HealthBulletin abstract

• For further information:
  • View conference presentations
  • View conference information
  • View conference program
• Contact details:
  • Alison Diamond, Conference Organiser, ph: (02) 6244 1287, fax: (02) 6244 1299, email: conference2008@aihw.gov.au 

Compared with non-Indigenous men, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men suffer from substantially more serious illnesses and early death due to problems arising from diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancers, respiratory diseases, psychological disorders, accidental injuries, violence and other causes. Despite this knowledge little is known to date about reproductive health among Indigenous men, with recent research being limited mainly to studies of sexually transmitted infections.

The aim of this research was to improve the understanding of sexual and reproductive health problems experienced by Indigenous men. A mixed method design combined qualitative inquiry (4 focus groups and 18 in-depth interviews) and quantitative survey (n=301) involving men living in remote, rural and urban communities (Tiwi Islands, Darwin and north and south-east Queensland). Survey data were compared with recently published self-reports from 5990 randomly selected men aged over 40 years in Australia (Holden et al., 2005, The Lancet, 366, 218-224). Findings revealed that most Indigenous men were silent about reproductive health but reported symptoms of erectile dysfunction at least as much as non-Indigenous men in other studies and were also found to have more symptoms of prostate disease than non-Indigenous men. Men’s reaction to sexual difficulties included shame, denial, substance abuse and occasionally violence. The research provides insight and depth into the issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males experiencing reproductive and sexual health difficulties. The study also highlights issues concerning the layers of silence around sexual and reproductive health of Indigenous men, including silence in the scientific establishments in health services, and in the community. Implications for education of primary healthcare workers and community-based awareness campaigns for Indigenous males are discussed.

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet abstract