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Director of First Nations Strategy and Leadership; Head, First Nations Health and Equity Research
To establish the priorities of primary care providers to improve assessment and treatment of skin sores and sore throats among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at risk of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
The choice of RHD is telling: the disease is a marker of inequality, a novel lens for considering health systems and a feasible target for disease control.
The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team follows an holistic definition of Aboriginal Health which means that health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual but includes the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community.
We are working with the leadership and staff at foster care agencies and community members to provide information about cultural connection, and cultural activity and resources for Aboriginal children living in non-Aboriginal care arrangements.
In partnership with local Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, the Elder-led co-designed Koolungar Moorditj Healthy Skin project is guided by principles of reciprocity, capacity building, respect, and community involvement. Through this work, the team of Elders, community members, clinicians and research staff have gained insight into the skin health needs of urban-living Aboriginal koolungar (children); and having identified a lack of targeted and culturally appropriate health literacy and health promotion resources on moorditj (strong) skin, prioritised development of community-created healthy skin resources.
Skin infections affect physical health and, through stigma, social-emotional health. When untreated, they can cause life-threatening conditions. We aimed to assess the effect of a holistic, co-designed, region-wide skin control programme on the prevalence of impetigo.
Low vitamin D intake and prevalence of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration <50 nmol/L among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples highlight a need for public health strategies to improve vitamin D status. Since few foods contain naturally occurring vitamin D, food fortification could be a suitable strategy. We aimed to model vitamin D food fortification scenarios among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Siblings of children with intellectual disability have unique family experiences, varying by type of disability.
CREAHW is a program of intervention research focused on achieving sustainable change for the Aboriginal community & improving the lives of Aboriginal people.