feature tile text 'Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association decry racism in health care' & vector art of Aboriginal man & woman tending gravesite

Image in feature tile by Nick Wiggins, Four Corners. Image source: ABC website.

AIDA decry racism in health care system

The Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association (AIDA) has responded to the 'Betty's Story' report which outlines how the treatment of Ms Yvette "Betty" Booth by health officials at Doomadgee Hospital's emergency department led to her untimely death at the age of 18 from rheumatic heart disease (RHD). "This report reveals that Ms Booth's treatment was woefully inadequate," Dr Tanya Schramm, President of AIDA said.

"Moreover, it is proof of the lethal consequences of racism in the health care system. We are seeing yet another community in mourning because of a death that was entirely avoidable. We must eliminate racism to stop the needless deaths of our people," Dr Schramm said.

AIDA is advocating for better training in recognition of RHD and better systems to track patients with the condition as well as comprehensive cultural safety training across all agencies within the health system. Cultural safety training encourages practitioners, nurses and administrative staff to examine their unconscious biases, including racism, and build in strategies ensuring the highest level of health care is provided to every patient.

According to RHD Australia, more than 5,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are currently living with RHD or acute rheumatic fever (ARF), and while some non-Indigenous Australians are susceptible to the disease, it is one that predominantly plagues Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. "RHD in 2022 is a national shame, it is a disease of poverty and overcrowding," Dr Schramm said.

To view AIDA media release in full click here.

red 3D heart on trace of heartbeat
Image source: AJP

How alcohol companies target youth

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) is partnering with The University of Queensland (UQ) for a three-year study to better understand how young people are targeted by alcohol companies via social media.

This research comes as investigations by Reset Australia found that Facebook tags children as interested in alcohol, approves alcohol advertisements targeted to children, and continues to harvest children's data to target them with advertising. On average, advertising technology companies collect more than 72 million data points on a child before they reach the age of 13.

UQ, Lead Chief Investigator, Associate Professor Nicholas Carah said "Digital marketing by alcohol companies is rapidly growing, particularly across social media platforms. A lot of this marketing is targeted at people based on their personal data, and we know young people are being exposed to alcohol advertising."

"Much of this is occurring out of sight, only being seen by those directly targeted and through content that is short-lived, making it extremely difficult to monitor harmful ads and predatory targeting. By revealing what's behind the curtain and showing the hidden tactics used by alcohol marketers, we hope these insights provide the urgently needed evidence-base for understanding and effectively governing alcohol marketing in the digital age."

To view FARE's media release in full click here

hands using iPhone
Photo: PA Archive/PA Images. Image source: Wales Online.

Address racism to improve kidney care 

Today on World Kidney Day - Thursday 10 March 2022, governments and health services are being urged to act on the ways that racism and cultural bias create disparities in kidney care and transplantation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians.

Lowitja Institute and the University of Adelaide today released the Cultural Bias and Indigenous Kidney Care and Kidney Transplantation Report, prepared for the National Indigenous Kidney Transplantation Taskforce (NIKTT). The report details ways to improve kidney transplantation rates and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through addressing key barriers that lead to culturally biased care.

This report centres the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with lived experience of kidney disease, using their knowledge and understandings to guide the recommendations put forward.

"We know that institutional racism and systemic bias are barriers to kidney transplantation and affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the health system," said Kelli Owen, a proud Kaurna, Narungga, and Ngarrindjeri woman, kidney transplant recipient, and kidney health researcher. "We have the answers to help keep our mob healthy and provide culturally safe kidney care. We just need them to be applied," Ms Owen said.

To view the media release, which includes a link to the report, click here.

arm of Aboriginal person contacted to dialysis machine
Dialysis involves spending up to five hours hooked up to a machine that artificially cleans a patient's blood. Photo: Tom Joyner, ABC Goldfields. Image source: ABC News.

Gender equity in pharmacy

In an article 'Achieving gender equity in the pharmacy profession' published in the Australian Pharmacist this week two pharmacists discuss their careers and the biases that must be broken to ensure women can succeed. One of the pharmacists Kate Gill MPS is a consultant pharmacist in Cairns who has been in the profession for 20 years.

"About 12 years ago, I became an accredited pharmacist and branched out into Indigenous healthcare, which included working on the Integrating pharmacists into Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (IPAC) project at Wuchopperen.

Being part of the wider team to ensure patients received the best health outcomes was a career highlight. We had one patient who used a walker and had issues with housing. Instead of referring him to a wellbeing worker, psychologist or social worker in a report, I visited them individually. We set up a case study for the patient, which helped him acquire accommodation and a new walker.

Although Wuchopperen didn't have the funding to keep me on post-IPAC, we remained in contact and now I provide home medicine reviews (HMRs) for them."

To view the article in full click here.

Kate Gill MPS
Kate Gill MPS. Image source: Australian Pharmarcist.

Opthalmic organisations list 2022 priorities

Key ophthalmic organisations have revealed their federal election wish lists, drawing attention to issues such as workforce maldistribution and access for rural and remote communities.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) say that funding is required for an adequate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers/liaison officers, to coordinate and facilitate services. Institutionalisation of Indigenous community control into funding schemes and service delivery models is also needed to ensure ACCHOs are part of the decision-making process. It also reiterated the need for funding of scholarships and enrolment in specialist training programs to grow the Indigenous workforce and leadership development.

To view the Ophthalmic sector lays out priorities ahead of 2022 federal election Insight article in full click here.

Aboriginal child having eye text
Image source: University of Melbourne.

Project supports LGBTQIA+ mob

Walkern Katatdjin (Rainbow Knowledge) is a peer-led national research project, seeking to hear from the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ people with mental health, wellbeing and support. The groundbreaking project will focus on the lives of young people, using interviews and yarning groups and a national survey to lead into co-design with LGBTQIA+ young people and services.

The research will also help provide essential information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives not readily available to lawmakers and service providers seeking to develop meaningful inclusion in mental health service provision.

Research team member Shakara Liddelow-Hunt said "What we're really looking to do is understand the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing for young Aboriginal LGBTQ+ mob. We started by yarning with young mob here in Perth and we're now looking to launch a national survey."

To view the Out in Perth article in full click here.

cartoon drawing of two ATSI adults holding both hands between them
Image source: Out In Perth.

First Nations burden of disease data

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018: Interactive data on disease burden among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, AIHW, Australian Government report has just been released.

Burden of disease is a measure of the years of healthy life lost from living with, or dying from disease and injury. The report describes the impact of 219 diseases and injuries among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of living with illness (non-fatal burden) and premature death (fatal burden). It finds that: the burden rate fell by 15% between 2003 and 2018, driven by a substantial drop in fatal burden injuries and chronic diseases (such as mental & substance use disorders, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and musculoskeletal conditions) caused most of the burden in 2018.

For further information about the report click here.

adult ATSI hand touching yellow red black bead bracelet of Aboriginal child
Image source: SCIMEX.

New process for job advertising

NACCHO have introduced a new system for the advertising of job adverts via the NACCHO website and you can find the sector job listings here.

Click here to go to the NACCHO website where you can complete a form with job vacancy details - it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.