The tweeters were in action at an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workshop held in Sydney today as part of the 21st national conference of the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA). As previously mentioned, the Croakey Conference Reporting Service has been enlisted to help cover the conference. Workshop participants shared photos and some of the discussions [...]
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INDIGENOUS HEALTH
The Health Wrap: Tobacco control, Closing the Gap, patient safety, pharma sagas and more
By Kellie Bisset Tobacco control was a dominant issue this fortnight, but Closing the Gap on Indigenous health inequality, barriers to evidence-informed policy, patient safety and immunisation were also on the agenda. Here are some highlights. Towards a smoke-free zone World No Tobacco Day on 31 May saw accusations levelled at the Queensland Government for [...]
READ MOREA simple request: Evidence based alcohol policy – not partisan politics
Many thanks to Dr John Boffa, PAAC spokesperson, and Bob Durnan, PAAC member and community development worker, for this piece on one of the Northern Territory’s most challenging health issues. The People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (PAAC) is an Alice Springs-based coalition of organisations including churches, community groups and private individuals. It has lobbied since 1995 [...]
READ MORECommunity-based journalism meets community health: Meet some of the mojos from Cherbourg
A mobile journalism (Mojo) program has been running at the Cherbourg community in south-east Queensland (some more details in this ABC report). Below are reports on: The Deadly Ears program, by mojo Shaya Watson. ***
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Did Tony Jones and the Q and A team really mean to send this message about Indigenous health?
As Q and A wrapped up on Monday night, one particularly poignant tweet caught my eye. “Just tells you how much we don’t matter.” It was one of a series of tweets from a Wiradjuri woman, Kath Grant, who lives in Sydney (you can see them at the bottom of this post). She was disappointed [...]
READ MOREAnti-smoking campaigns failing Indigenous youth
Kristin Carson writes: How can anti-smoking campaigns be targeted more effectively at Australia’s Indigenous youth? It’s a good question, and one that, as yet, has proven difficult to answer. Almost half of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 14 years and older smoke cigarettes, compared with one-fifth of non-Indigenous Australians. This has contributed [...]
READ MOREPrescription for healthy food in remote Indigenous communities
Carley Tonoli writes: Doctors should be able to provide subsidised “prescriptions” for healthy food to people in remote Aboriginal communities, says an Indigenous nutrition expert. Professor Kerin O’Dea, Professor of Nutrition and Public Health in the Health Sciences Division of the University of South Australia, made the call after a study she co-authored found that [...]
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Creating healthier goals for Yolngu girls: some reflections from a health promotion program
Last September, a group of Yolngu teenage girls from East Arnhem Land came to Sydney for a week of sporting and cultural events, as part of a program encouraging them to develop healthier aspirations. As part of the program, Kevin Bird, Healthy Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, sought to use team sport as [...]
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Ian Thorpe on #closethegap: “We now need all state and territory governments to contribute their fair share”
Social media advocacy is on over-drive around tomorrow’s COAG meeting and the push for national signup to the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes, which is due to expire at the end of June. Ian Thorpe, patron of the Close the Gap campaign, has published an open letter today calling for united [...]
READ MOREAs the NT targets “problem drinkers”, it seems government policy may be the real problem
The NT Government recently announced that “problem drinkers” in Katherine, Darwin, Alice Springs and Gove will be subject to mandatory treatment as part of a new policy starting in July. It expects up to 800 people will be required to undergo treatment. According to this statement, ”problem drinkers” placed in protective custody three times in two [...]
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