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Closing the Gap – Indigenous Chronic Disease

Welcome to the website for the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package – an important part of the Australian Government’s response to closing the gap in Indigenous health outcomes.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience a burden of disease two-and-a-half times that of other Australians. A large part of the burden of disease is due to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and chronic kidney disease. This can be reduced by earlier identification, and management of risk factors and the disease itself.

The Indigenous Chronic Disease Package aims to achieve this reduction by providing support to the health sector and better access to health care by Indigenous Australians.

While great work is being done by many dedicated people around Australia, more is needed to reduce the burden of chronic disease on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To be sure you have access to the latest information about the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package, please visit this site regularly.

The Indigenous Chronic Disease Package – What is it?

The Indigenous Chronic Disease Package aims to reduce key risk factors for chronic disease in the Indigenous community such as smoking, improve chronic disease management and follow up, and increase the capacity of the primary care workforce to deliver effective care to Indigenous Australians with chronic diseases. The package provides:

• significant new funding for preventative health focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities;
• support and funding for more coordinated and patient-focused primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in both Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and mainstream general practice; and
• an expanded Indigenous health workforce.

The package will:

• promote and support good health initiatives through the involvement of local communities and delivery of healthy lifestyle programs;
• support accredited Indigenous health services and general practices by providing new funding for the delivery of better health care for Indigenous Australians;
• remove barriers so that patients can better access essential follow-up services such as allied health, specialist care and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines; and
• build the capacity of the primary health care system to care for patients by growing the number and skills of the Indigenous health workforce.

Background

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has pledged to develop and implement coordinated strategies to address the key causes and determinants of Indigenous disadvantage, and has agreed six high level targets for closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. These targets are:

• to close the gap in life expectancy within a generation;
• to halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five within a decade;
• to ensure all Indigenous four year olds in remote communities have access to early childhood education within five years;
• to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children within a decade;
• to halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment or equivalent attainment rates by 2020; and
• to halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade.

In support of this work, COAG has agreed to the $1.6 billion National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes (NPA).

The Commonwealth's contribution to the NPA is the $805.5 million Indigenous Chronic Disease Package. This package will improve the way the Australian health care system prevents, treats and manages the chronic diseases that shorten so many Indigenous Australians' lives.

The Indigenous Chronic Disease Package aims to reduce key risk factors for chronic disease in the Indigenous community such as smoking, improve chronic disease management and follow up, and increase the capacity of the primary care workforce to deliver effective care to Indigenous Australians with chronic diseases.

The Commonwealth's Implementation Plan was endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers' Conference on 4 September 2009.

You can view the Commonwealth's Implementation Plan by clicking on the following link:

Commonwealth Implementation Plan (PDF 430 KB) | Access the individual State and Territory Implementation Plans

If you are unable to access the documents, please email OATSIH Enquiries or phone (02) 6289 5291.

Closing the Gap: Indigenous Chronic Disease Package

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience a burden of disease two-and-half times that of other Australians.

Reducing the burden of chronic disease requires a much greater effort in delivering prevention programs and comprehensive and well-coordinated primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This booklet provides information on how the Australian Government’s Indigenous Chronic Disease Package will contribute to closing the gap in Indigenous health outcomes.