| The National Review of Indigenous Environmental Health Workers is currently underway. It was initiated in response to several major reports that have highlighted the need to improve environmental health conditions to reduce disadvantage among Indigenous Australians. Identified priorities encompass safe and healthy living conditions, including basic rights to clean water, functional sewerage and safe food and housing.
In line with the National Environmental Health Strategy – which recognises the value of Indigenous Environmental Health Workers (IEHWs) in achieving health gains in Indigenous communities – the purpose of the review is to recommend changes to improve Indigenous environmental health by supporting the role of IEHWs. It is anticipated that these recommendations will contribute to the development of an action plan for improving indigenous environmental health issues. EnHealth is inviting all interested parties, agencies, and bodies to read the discussion paper and provide input to the review process. Input can be submitted by responding to the discussion questionnaire and/or submitting additional information and advice. The closing date for comments is Wednesday 30 June 2004. Hard copies of the discussion paper can be obtained from the Program Manager, Mr Eddie Hollingsworth, ph: (02) 6289 7264, email: edward.hollingsworth@health.gov.au For further information: View the EnHealth National Review of Indigenous Environmental Health Workers report (HTML – Download instructions) Related documents: enHealth (1999) Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (2003) |
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Category: Vol 4 No 2 April 2004 – June 2004
Launch of The health of Aboriginal children and young people
(The following summary has been adapted from information provided by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.)
The health of Aboriginal children and young people was launched on 3 June 2004 at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, Western Australia (WA). The report is the first volume of findings from the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS), with four more volumes due to be released over the next 18 months. The volumes cover the topics of health, social and emotional wellbeing, education, family, and community and justice.
The WAACHS was one of the largest and most comprehensive investigations into the health and wellbeing of WA Aboriginal children, their families and communities, involving five years of planning and two years in the field. It was designed to build a store of knowledge from which to develop preventive strategies that promote and maintain the healthy development and the social, emotional, academic, and vocational wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The survey was undertaken by researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in conjunction with the Kulunga Research Network. All phases were under the direction of the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey Steering Committee. The committee, chaired by Associate Professor Ted Wilkes, comprises senior Aboriginal people from a cross section of agencies and settings. More than half of the 130 surveying staff were Aboriginal. The team spent two years working across WA to gather a random sample of more than 5,200 Aboriginal children (one in five WA Aboriginal people aged 18 years or younger) and included interviews with 2,000 families, 11,300 family members, and more than 3,000 teachers.
The report details the complexity of factors that contribute to significantly higher rates of death, illness and disability among Indigenous people compared with other Australians. It includes a call for a national strategy to break the cycle of Aboriginal poor health and disadvantage that looks beyond health to the resources needed for healthy child development.
Associate Professor Ted Wilkes said Aboriginal health was too often portrayed as a problem that was simply too hard to fix and there had been little progress in improving outcomes over the past 30 years, whereas Canada, New Zealand and the United States had narrowed the disparity between Indigenous people and the rest of the population (view media release – HTML). Professor Wilkes noted that ‘Aboriginal people have heard the alarm bells ringing for years, this survey gives us the hard evidence we need for new strategies that look at the issue from a different direction. We have to break the cycle of poor health and that means we have to find ways to give our children a better start in life’. He described the data as a baseline from which real improvements can be achieved and highlighted that resources are needed in areas that are going to produce real results, with many of the solutions outside the health care system.
Outlining other findings from the data, Professor Steve Zubrick from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research said that family arrangements varied markedly between urban and more isolated regions and family structures were under pressure, much of it as a legacy of the stolen generations: ‘the extended family structure in many Aboriginal homes is a very important safety mechanism for these children, but the overall impact of loss and separation is quite profound’ (view media release – HTML).
Aboriginal children are faced with significant impediments to their chances of a healthy life even before they are born (view media release – HTML). After birth, high rates of recurrent infection are a major risk to the health of Aboriginal children and are comparable to those of third world countries (view media release – HTML). Heather D’Antoine, survey steering committee member and Indigenous health researcher, stated that ‘these infections can have a big impact on the child’s health and development. It’s particularly distressing when we know many of these recurring infections are preventable with appropriate treatment and environmental measures’.
This project was funded by Healthway, Lotterywest, Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation, the West Australian State Government (through the departments of Education and Training; Health; Disability Services Commission; Community Development; West Australian Drug Strategy) and the Commonwealth Government (through the departments of Education, Science and Training; Health and Ageing (coordinated through the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health); Attorney General; Family and Community Services).
The Health of Aboriginal Children and Young People (view HealthInfoNet abstract; view full report – PDF – 8.18MB – large file warning!) is available on the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research website. For information regarding reproduction of the report contact: Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, PO Box 855, West Perth WA 6872, Ph: (08) 94897777, Fax: (08) 9489 7700, Email: waachs@ichr.uwa.edu.au.
For further information:
- Children the key to breaking the cycle of disadvantage
View media release (HTML) (released 3 June) - Social disadvantage underpins children’s poor health
View media release (HTML) (released 3 June) - The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey background information
View media release (HTML) (released 3 June) - Infections leave life-long scars
View media release (HTML) (released 3 June) - Disadvantage begins in the womb
View media release (HTML) (released 3 June)
ABC news:
- National strategy needed on Aboriginal child health: report
View article (3 June) - Aboriginal children take part in comprehensive health study
View transcript (3 June)
Or contact:
Elizabeth Chester (Media Contact)
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
Ph: (08) 94897965
Mob: 0409 988 530
Email: elizabeth@ichr.uwa.edu.au
Links to Commonwealth Budget 2004-05: information of relevance to Indigenous health
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello delivered his ninth Commonwealth Budget on Tuesday evening, 11 May 2004. The following links provide information on the Budget and its implications for Indigenous health.
Full Budget details
Full Commonwealth Budget details are available at the official Budget website.
Health and Ageing Portfolio Budget 2004 – 2005
2004-05 Portfolio Budget Statements for the Health and Ageing Portfolio are available on the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing website. Part C discusses the performance of individual outcomes within the Department, and includes Outcome 7: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (PDF – 116 KB).
Information on Indigenous funding is included in the media statement More funds for Indigenous primary care from the Hon Tony Abbott, Minister for Health and Ageing.
Further general details regarding the Health and Ageing Portfolio Budget are available in Health and Ageing Budget at a glance and on the following web pages:
| Health Budget | Ageing Budget |
| Health media releases Health fact sheets |
Ageing media releases Ageing fact sheets |
Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
2004-05 Portfolio Budget Statements (PDF – 2.9 MB – large file warning!) are available on the Department’s website.
Part C of the document includes sections on the following (view links to various sections)
- Aboriginal Hostels Limited;
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies;
- Indigenous Business Australia;
- Indigenous Land Corporation; and
- Torres Strait Regional Authority.
Indigenous Affairs statements (released 11 May)
Australian Government announces new initiatives in Indigenous affairs – Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
View media release
Other media releases
$20 million for the Indigenous community volunteers – Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
View media release (released 11 May)
$13 million for Indigenous youth employment consultants – Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
View media release (released 11 May)
Continuing our commitment to Indigenous learning – Minister for Education Science and Training (released 11 May)
View media release
$2.1 billion to accelerate Indigenous education outcomes – Minister for Education Science and Training (released 11 May)
View media release
$14 million to improve Indigenous student literacy – Minister for Education Science and Training (released 11 May)
View media release
$ 179 million boost for school-based Indigenous tutoring – Minister for Education Science and Training (released 11 May)
View media release
Indigenous education strategic initiatives programme – Minister for Education Science and Training (released 11 May)
View media release
Indigenous Australians Are Costello’s Forgotten People – Shadow Minister for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs (released 12 May)
View media release
Indigenous Health Budget is $290 million short – Democrats Senator for New South Wales, Australian Democrats spokesperson for Indigenous Affairs (released 12 May)
View media release
2004 Budget – real issues in Aboriginal Health forgotten – NACCHO (released 12 May)
View media release
Opportunity and Responsibility for Indigenous Australians – Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs (released 15 May)
View media release
ABC News articles
Govt shifts ATSIC funding to communities
View article (11 May)
Budget a mixed result for Indigenous people: ATSIC
View article (12 May)
An Indigenous focus at the World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education, Melbourne 2004
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Health2004: the 18th World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education was held on the land of the Kulin nation of peoples in Melbourne from April 26-30. The conference theme – Valuing diversity, reshaping power: exploring pathways for health and wellbeing – included an explicit focus on Indigenous health. It offered a unique opportunity to showcase the work of Indigenous peoples – from Australia and around the world – to an international audience.
Shane Hearn, Chair of the Indigenous Organising Committee, highlighted that:
Health2004 is an opportunity to expand and build the partnerships that are needed in Australia and internationally to put Indigenous health on regional and global agendas, and an opportunity to value and learn from the experience, wisdom and critical perspectives Indigenous peoples and societies bring to our understanding of how to make healthy societies.
The conference program encompassed Indigenous presentations and activities, including:
- 34 Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander presenters (view details regarding conference abstracts and papers);
- an Indigenous caucus for the discussion of Indigenous peoples’ own priorities and preferences;
- a series of Indigenous cultural and social events; and
- a range of exhibitors from Indigenous organisations.
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In the exhibition area, a joint booth comprised of staff from the HealthInfoNet, Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH), Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, and University of Queensland, was co-located with the National Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) booth. The unique synergy formed by the collaborative work of these organisations led to the creation of a natural meeting place for delegates with an interest in the health of Indigenous Australians and facilitated information sharing. A selection of publications from the Journal was enthusiastically received by conference delegates.
Nicole Tye from OATSIH (Perth), Shannon Smith from the Health Worker Journal, and Helen Travers from the University of Queensland, joined Bronwyn Gee and Sam Burrow from the HealthInfoNet to conduct a HealthInternet café at the conference. The café provided an opportunity to introduce conference delegates to the online information resources and services offered through the:
- Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet website; and
- University of Queensland’s touch screen project – an information technology initiative to enhance health literacy in remote Indigenous communities.
The café offered an informal setting for sharing lessons learned from innovative health promotion initiatives currently being implemented in Indigenous communities across the nation and around the world.
We’d like to thank conference delegates who provided written permission for us to display the photos included in the following gallery:
We’d also like to thank OATSIH (Canberra and Perth), the Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal and the University of Queensland for their support, participation and great company during the conference.
Professor Ian Anderson – first Aboriginal Australian Chair of Indigenous Health, University of Melbourne
| The following summary has been adapted from the 14 April 2004 University of Melbourne media release
The University of Melbourne has recently established a Chair of Indigenous Health, and has appointed one of Australia’s leading Indigenous health experts, Professor Ian Anderson, to the position. The Head of the School of Population Health, Professor Terry Nolan, believes that the establishment and appointment of the Chair will help raise awareness of Indigenous health issues and encourage partnerships and collaborations with Indigenous communities nationwide. Professor Anderson believes that Indigenous people must have a voice in Indigenous health issues and problems, and states that the Indigenous community ‘can provide intellectual leadership about the values society looks for in the health care sector’. He emphasises that areas which are important in the Indigenous health context – such as holistic health, community participation, and the linking of curative and preventative health services – are having a big impact on the health sector in general. He believes that those working in the Indigenous health field can make a valuable contribution to Australian society by sharing knowledge about how to improve the provision of health services. For the past 19 years, Professor Anderson has worked in Indigenous health as a health worker, health educator, and general practitioner. He is currently Head of the Centre for the Study of Health and Society at Melbourne University, in addition to being Research Director for the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health. He is also an appointed member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). For further information: |
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