Indigenous Nurse Home Visiting Program To Commence
Wuchopperen Health Service in North Queensland has been chosen as one of two sites to begin rolling out the Australian Government's nurse home visiting program for Indigenous children.
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3 April 2008
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Health Minister Nicola Roxon, visiting North Queensland, today announced that Wuchopperen Health Service in North Queensland has been selected as one of two sites for the early roll-out of the Australian Government’s nurse home visiting program for Indigenous children.
The nurse home visit program will be rolled out across 10 sites, benefiting around 1,900 families. Wuchopperen Health Service in North Queensland and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Incorporated in Alice Springs will commence the program in two weeks.
The program will provide structured, sustained home visits by skilled health professionals, starting during pregnancy and continuing through to the child’s second birthday.
The program is aimed at giving Indigenous children a healthier start in life through ongoing home visits. Mothers will also be able to obtain information to help them improve their welfare and life choices – both for themselves and their children.
The nurse home visit program is part of the Rudd Government’s $260 million commitment to closing the life expectancy gap and improving the health of Indigenous women and children, ensuring Indigenous children are healthy, happy and ready to learn.
This program is based on the successful Nurse Family Partnership, pioneered in the United States by Professor Olds, the Director of the Prevention Research Centre for Family and Child Health at the University of Colorado. The Nurse Family Partnership has produced impressive short- and long-term benefits for children and their families and has been proven to improve the health, welfare and life choices of both mothers and their children.
Australia is only the second country outside of the United States to receive approval from Professor Olds to run this successful program.
This nurse home visit program forms part of the Rudd Government’s commitment to closing the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people within a generation, and halving the rate at which Indigenous children die before the age of five within a decade.
This announcement comes just weeks after the Prime Minister signed a Statement of Intent with Indigenous health organisations – to work together to achieve equality in health status and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians by the year 2030.
Wuchopperen has been chosen because of their commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of the Indigenous community, through an understanding of Indigenous beliefs and practices.
Media inquiries only: Mark Ward 0437 125 938
For all other inquiries please call the Minister’s Office: 02 6277 7220
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