Improving the health of the Aboriginal people is a national priority. The Department of Health and Aged Care of the Australian Government together with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have developed and implemented strategies and programs to improve the health and wellbeing of these communities.

Addressing the limitations of healthcare facilities and services among Aboriginal people has been a concern within the Australian healthcare system for a very long time. Designing and delivering healthcare services to Aboriginal communities is one way to manage this concern. The local Aboriginal community members have established District Aboriginal Health Action Groups (DAHAGs) to collaborate with healthcare service providers in bringing about culturally-responsive healthcare. 

Here’s a look at improving health outcomes for Aboriginal peoples in Australia, including best practices and success stories.

Background

Different mortality and morbidity rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have been documented despite there being gaps in implementation of such programs. Life expectancy amongst Aboriginal Australians is about 10 years less than other Australians, which shows the gap in the country’s healthcare system in terms of the indigenous communities.

Aboriginal people face several challenges when accessing most of the mainstream services, including healthcare, transportation, and more. This could be partly due to poor communication from healthcare service providers and the need to commit themselves to build respectful partnerships with the Aboriginal community.

Initiating the community engagement process

There are many definitions to community engagement. It could mean communication, consultation, collaboration, participation, education, and empowerment. Effective engagement with the Aboriginal community plays an integral role in in improving Aboriginal health with access to increased healthcare services. The Aboriginal Health Team (AHT) consists of Aboriginal staff members that work towards identifying key health concerns. They have several years of experience in health, nursing, diabetes management, and chronic disease management.

Aboriginal people making decisions about their healthcare

The chairperson is a community member who needs to follow the agendas and priorities set aside by the community members as a whole. It empowers and builds confidence among community members to speak up their requirements and concerns and represent the entire community.

The Aboriginal community becomes a group of active decision makers that think about their health concerns and raise them to the relevant authorities. They take an innovative and inclusive approach tailor-made to meet their needs.

Accountability

Another unique feature of community engagement is the establishment of accountability procedures that involve both community and healthcare service providers. Regular meeting are held where follow up of issues and progress on actions are performed. Healthcare service providers maintain accountability by reporting back to the community on the changes that were implemented with regard to their concerns. Regular meetings make this possible and much easier. The community members need to give their input and thoughts with regard to how they feel of the implementations and their expectations.

Action to improve health outcomes

The Australian government work in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to uplift the health outcomes in the following ways:

Works towards the priority reform commitments given under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

Supports the delivery of high-quality and vital healthcare services that are culturally appropriate.

Implement procedures that work towards improving health outcomes, including chronic disease management programs.

The Australian government is expected to spend $4.1 billion on indigenous medicine and healthcare specifications in 2023, including the Indigenous Australians’ Health Program.

Health services

The government supports Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) and other healthcare providers that work towards improving the healthcare journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They are powerful leaders in providing culturally-appropriate healthcare services.

The Australian government funds culturally-appropriate healthcare at any stage in a person’s life, across all states and suburbs in Australia. This includes:

Primary healthcare services to minimize the number of hospital visits

Pregnancy and early childhood support to ensure children have a good lead in life

Chronic disease management programs

Programs that ensure the health of the eyes and ears

Actions on managing smoking and tobacco use

Policy work: Closing the gap

The priority reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap guides the relevant program in the following ways:

Building formal partnerships and shared decision making processes

Building the community controlled sector

Changing government organizations

Shared access to data at a regional level

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan sets the policy framework for the Aboriginal community. The health plan development includes the following:

Building links with other prominent Commonwealth health activities

Identify the essential areas that guide to uplift the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Strategic framework and implementation

The National Framework for Health Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Families provide guidance for the below mentioned. They are:

Program and policy design procedures

Services development and implementation

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) is a report that is produced every 2 to 3 years and monitors progress in:

Health system performance

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health results

The broader determining factors of health including safety, education, and employment

The framework consists of 63 measures across 3 tiers:

Tier 1 – Health status and results

Tier 2 – Determining factors of health

Tier 3 – Health system performance

Success stories

Here are the success stories and the efforts of improving the healthcare services extended to the Aboriginal community.

Indigenous Eye Health (IEH) has worked in Aboriginal health services with a range of stakeholders across Tasmania in an attempt to improve the access pathways to the Aboriginal community. Karadi Aboriginal Corporation has been actively participating in this work and shared their success story.

A client of Karadi was an Aboriginal woman in her late 60’s. She has not had her eyes tested at any point in her life. The team has been able to support this woman and others in the community with low literacy levels. They have been educated on the importance of addressing health issues in their families and the entire community. An example include delivering verbal presentations to clients to increase their knowledge in this subject matter. Finally, this woman was shown the importance of getting her health checked, including her eyes, which she did immediately.

Another success story is as follows:

The Victorian Senior Football and Netball Carnival provides the chance of strengthening the bond and participation of people in the community. This three-day carnival is held every October and celebrates and promotes the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. Many people who attended the carnival end up taking various health-related tests to check the health status of their body.

These success stories are just a few of many such stories that exist in relation to the Aboriginal community. They all prove that proper education and implantation of knowledge will prove to be successful in promoting the importance of a healthy lifestyle among the Aboriginal community.

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