HealthInfoNet to work with Canadian Aboriginal organisations on Internet-accessible resources

Following a series of meetings in Ottawa and Toronto on 8-11 October with people and organisations involved in Aboriginal health in Canada, the HealthInfoNet has been approached to assist in the development of a Canadian resource along the lines of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet.

The meetings began in Ottawa on 8 October, when HealthInfoNet Director, Neil Thomson, and Manager, Bronwyn Gee, met with Richard Jock, Executive Director, and senior research and policy staff of the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO).

NAHO was established in 1999-2000, largely in response to recommendations of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which recognised the need for an Aboriginal organisation to serve as a support network for Aboriginal health workers and communities, to share information, and act as an advocate of evidence-based decision-making in addressing the health needs of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. After detailed consultations with key Aboriginal organisations, communities and individuals, the five major national organisations – the Assembly of First Nations, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the Metis National Council and the Native Women’s Association of Canada – agreed to the form and objectives of NAHO and now serve on its Board of Directors. NAHO’s specific objectives are:
(1) improving and promoting through knowledge-based activities the health of Aboriginal peoples and Aboriginal communities
(2) promoting health issues pertaining to Aboriginal peoples by means including communications and public education activities.
(3) facilitating and promoting research and developing research partnerships relating to Aboriginal health issues
(4) fostering recruitment, retention, training and utilisation of Aboriginal people in the delivery of health care.
(5) affirming Aboriginal traditional healing practices through validating holistic traditional practices and medicines and ensuring such practices receive recognition.

TheHealthInfoNet‘s work had been recognised by NAHO in the development of a document entitled Establishing a leading knowledge-based organization, so the meeting on 8 October enabled NAHO staff to consider more closely how a similar resource could be established in Canada.

The value of such a resource was acknowledged also by the Dr Jeff Reading, Scientific Director of the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health (IAPH), and the IAPH Advisory Board (composed of representatives from the Aboriginal community, academia and governments) after a presentation to the Board in Toronto on 10 October. The IAHP, one of the thirteen ‘virtual’ Institutes of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), supports research addressing the special health needs of Canada’s Aboriginal people. Dr Reading and the Board recognised the very important role that a Canadian Aboriginal HealthInfoNet could play in assisting their health research agenda (across disciplines, sectors, and regions), the emerging health needs of Canadian Aboriginal people, and the information needs of health policy decision-makers.

As well as the presentation to the Board and follow-up meetings with Dr Reading, Neil and Bronwyn were guests at the official launch of the IAHP in Toronto on 11 October.

Following these meetings and presentations in Ottawa and Toronto, HealthInfoNet staff have been working with NAHO staff in the initial planning for a Canadian version of the HealthInfoNet. It is anticipated that both the HealthInfoNet and NAHO will benefit from collaboration on this development, as some of the generic aspects will be able to be shared. NAHO is planning to have a Canadian Aboriginal HealthInfoNet fully operational within two years.

Acknowledgments: The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet is grateful to Edith Cowan University’s Faculty of Communications, Health and Science for supporting the visit of Bronwyn Gee and Neil Thomson to Canada, and to Ginette Thomas, Executive Officer of the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health, for assisting in the coordination of meetings in Ottawa and Toronto..