Along with our support for primary care services, there are general programs providing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with chronic diseases:
- Medical Outreach Indigenous Chronic Diseases program – supports multi-disciplinary teams in health outreach services.
- Integrated Team Care program – uses regional teams to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people get coordinated primary health care when they need it. This can be from Indigenous health services or mainstream services.
- Practice Incentives Program – Indigenous Health Incentive – supports best practice management and follow up care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a chronic disease.
We also fund programs that focus on key conditions that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Diabetes
One of the goals of our National Diabetes Strategy is to reduce the impact of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The Quality Assurance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Services (QAAMS) program provides rapid, on-site diabetes testing in many locations across Australia. Many of the QAAMS sites are in rural and remote areas. These tests provide a result within minutes, meaning patients can get their results during the same appointment.
Smoking
The Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) program aims to improve life expectancy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by reducing the harm from tobacco use. Local organisations run activities designed to reduce smoking rates. The program provides resources and tools to support these activities.
Heart disease
The rate of deaths from heart disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has fallen by half in the past 20 years. However, heart disease is still the leading cause of death, despite being highly preventable if detected early and managed with lifestyle changes and medication.
High risk of heart disease begins early for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. To prevent heart disease, it’s important to identify risk factors early and manage them well.
A toolkit is available to help health professionals talk about heart disease with their patients. It contains information about prevention, identification and management of heart disease.
Rheumatic heart disease
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a preventable condition. In Australia, it mostly affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children – particularly those in rural and remote places. In RHD, the valves of the heart become damaged after a person has had acute rheumatic fever (ARF). ARF is caused by an autoimmune reaction to an infection with a bacteria known as Strep A.
The Australian Government is committed to ending RHD as a public health issue by 2030. To achieve this, the Australian Government is making significant investments to address ARF and RHD through:
- the Rheumatic Fever Strategy
- developing a vaccine against Strep A (funded through the Indigenous Health Research Fund).
The Rheumatic Fever Strategy includes:
- state-based register and control programs in the NT, WA, SA and QLD, to improve detection, monitoring and management of ARF and RHD
- developing clinical guidelines to prevent, diagnose and manage ARF and RHD
- developing resources and providing education and training for healthcare professionals, communities, and for individuals with these conditions and their carers
- piloting activities in high-risk communities to help prevent new cases of ARF
- national analysis and reporting on the data from state-based registers.
For more on RHD, see RHDAustralia.
Kidney disease
Kidney disease is a leading cause of death and disability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We have funded Kidney Health Australia to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to create specific guidelines for Indigenous kidney disease.
Cancer
Our portfolio agency Cancer Australia has developed an optimal care pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with cancer and an Our Mob and Cancer online interactive resource.
Our cancer screening programs have developed resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Breast cancer
BreastScreen Australia has resources:
- in English, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- translated into several Indigenous languages.
Bowel cancer
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program has resources for families and communities and health professional to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to do the bowel cancer screening test.
Cervical cancer
The National Cervical Screening Program has resources:
- in English, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- translated into several Indigenous languages.
More information and resources
We also fund programs to support a healthy lifestyle, which can prevent some chronic diseases.
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet has more information chronic diseases and other health topics, including:
- publications
- policies
- programs
- organisations
- courses
- events
- funding.