$4m for Tri-Nation Research to Help Close the Gap in Indigenous Health
The Australian Government has announced three Australian research teams will receive a share of nearly $4 million to improve outcomes in Indigenous health.
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Previous MinistersJoint Release
The Hon Warren Snowdon MP
Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery
The Hon Mark Butler MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Health
25 March 2010In the spirit of Oxfam’s National Closing The Gap Day, the Rudd Government has announced three Australian research teams will receive a share of nearly $4 million to improve outcomes in Indigenous health.
Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowdon said the projects range from improving oral health in a research trial to exploring how enhancing education for health professionals can reduce chronic disease and improve outcomes for Indigenous populations.
Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler said the projects are funded through the International Collaborative Indigenous Health Research Partnerships (ICIHRP) scheme.
Mr Butler said the scheme funds research to improve health for Indigenous peoples through international collaboration and a multi-disciplinary approach.
The ICIHRP is a joint initiative of the National Health and Medical Research Council, the New Zealand Health Research Council and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
“This international partnership will support high quality research in the area of Indigenous peoples’ health by building upon existing networks of researchers and furthering research in agreed priority areas,” Mr Butler said.
“The three teams of Australian scientists will work collaboratively with international partners in Canada and New Zealand - and in partnership with their Indigenous peoples - to deliver innovative research that will help contribute to the Rudd Government’s efforts to ‘close the gap’ on health outcomes for Indigenous people,” Mr Snowdon added.
The Rudd Government’s $805.5million Indigenous Chronic Disease Package will also provide significant new resources to improve the prevention, early detection and management of chronic diseases which account for some two-thirds of premature deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Details of the grant recipients’ projects attached.
Media contacts: Alice Plate, Minister Snowdon’s office, 0400 045 999 or 02 6277 7380
Lisa Sedgwick, Parliamentary Secretary’s Office, 02 6277 4414
Simon Tidy, NHMRC, 0422 008 512 or 02 6217 9190
International Collaborative Indigenous Health Research Partnership
1. Strengthening health literacy among Indigenous people living with cardiovascular disease, their families, and health care providersAustralian Lead Investigator: Professor Ian Anderson
Administering Institution: University of Melbourne
Grant amount - $497,046
Cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks and strokes are major causes of illness and death among Indigenous people in Australia, Canada and NZ. Patients and families play a major role in managing heart disease and stroke. To do this well people must be able to access, understand and act on information for health. This is called health literacy.
Professor Anderson’s team will work with Indigenous primary care services to develop and implement a programme with patients and families that will increase knowledge of medications, increase confidence and ability to self-manage cardiovascular disease, and increase empowerment in interactions with health workers. The programme will also increase health workers’ knowledge of health literacy and their skills for working with people with high health literacy needs. Five health provider sites in Australia, Canada, and NZ will participate with 100 patients and families at each site.
2. Reducing disease burden and health inequalities arising from chronic dental disease among Indigenous children: an early childhood caries intervention
Australian Lead Investigator: Dr Lisa Jamieson
Administering Institution: University of Adelaide
Grant amount - $1,390,040
Child dental disease experience (Early Childhood Caries; ECC) causes profound suffering, frequently requiring expensive treatment under a general anaesthetic. It is associated with other chronic childhood conditions such as otitis media and nutritional disorders, and is the strongest predictor of poor oral health in adulthood. Despite ECC being entirely preventable, marked ECC disparities exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
If the burden of ECC and associated oral health inequalities experienced by Indigenous children in these nations are to be reduced, more needs to be done to ensure that appropriate preventive measures, together with support for maintaining optimal oral health, are provided to carers of such children in the early life stages.
3. Educating for equity: Exploring how health professional education can reduce disparities in chronic disease care and improve outcomes for Indigenous populations
Australian Lead Investigator: Professor Helen Milroy
Administering Institution: University of Western Australia
Grant amount - $2,083,132
Indigenous people in Canada, Australia and New Zealand experience a greater burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and mental illness than non-Indigenous people. This is partly due to differences in access to health care and in the standard of care received between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
One way to address health professionals’ clinical decision making, communication and engagement with patients and families is through education of current and future health professionals, yet there is currently little known about how education can influence these ‘health professional factors’ or what approaches work best.
This project is about comparing, building and sharing experiences and approaches to Indigenous health teaching and learning in the area of chronic disease.
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