Launch of the ‘Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker’

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PDF printable version of Launch of the ‘Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker’ (PDF 38 KB)

1 September 2011

One of the important contributors to the Aboriginal health workforce in the Northern Territory is being celebrated with the launch in Katherine today of the ‘Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker’.

The Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, congratulated the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT) and the senior Aboriginal Health Workers’ network for initiating and promoting the initiative.

“The ‘Year of the Aboriginal Health Worker’ recognises that Aboriginal Health Workers have played a vital role in providing essential health care services to Aboriginal people in the Territory and throughout Australia for close to half a century.

“It acknowledges the significant role of the more than 280 Aboriginal Health Workers in the Territory in caring for their own people and improving their health,” Mr Snowdon said.

“Aboriginal Health Workers are on the front line, working across cultures alongside nurses, doctors and specialists, coping with the pressures of a western medical system, and acting as interpreters and translators.

“Senior Aboriginal Health Workers are also in charge of health centres and some work in hospitals where they form part of a valuable workforce helping to close the gap between the Aboriginal community and the broader population.”

Mr Snowdon said the Australian Government is building the Territory’s Indigenous primary care workforce and funding more than 32 additional health staff under the $805.5 million Indigenous Chronic Disease Package (ICDP).

“This includes outreach workers, practice managers, health project officers, health professionals, regional tobacco coordinators, tobacco action workers, healthy lifestyle workers and care coordination.

“In Katherine alone, the Australian Government has funded more than 8 additional positions, with another four positions in Wurli Wurlinjang funded under the Expanded Health Service Delivery Initiative.

“I encourage more Aboriginal people to consider taking up some of the opportunities made available through these new health positions in the Territory.”

It’s also important to recognise that the Territory is the only jurisdiction to date that registers the members of the Aboriginal Health Worker profession.

“I would like to congratulate everyone involved including AMSANT, the Aboriginal Health Workers Board of the NT, the NT Government, and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

“They have helped establish national registration and accreditation arrangements for our Aboriginal health workers. This is an exciting development which will ensure the continued high quality and safety of health services for Indigenous people,” Mr Snowdon said.

For more information, contact Mr Snowdon’s office (02) 6277 7820