Government must do more to empower Indigenous communities to improve health outcomes
The AMA welcomes the Prime Minister’s visit to the Northern Territory to inspect town camps and other communities to gain a first hand understanding of the range of social and economic factors that continue to adversely affect the health of Indigenous people.
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that he was encouraged by the Prime Minister’s comments that she would be working with Indigenous communities to ‘hear their voices about their views on the world and what works in their communities’.
“The AMA has been doing this for some time when developing Indigenous health policies. The clear message is that when Indigenous communities are empowered to develop and apply their own solutions to their own local problems, positive, meaningful and sustained improvements in Indigenous health can be achieved,” Dr Hambleton said.
“An important part of any strategy to close the Indigenous health and life expectancy gap should be the development of health-related capacities in Indigenous communities.
“Genuine community capacity-building requires significant resources, a long-term vision, and targeted Government support to empower the local people. It requires a generational shift from dependence to self-reliance. But Government agencies are not always the best choices for facilitating these generational changes.
“The AMA believes that non government organisations (NGOs) such as Oxfam, the Fred Hollows Foundation, NACCHO, World Vision, and Save the Children have a successful history and the necessary hands-on experience to improve community capacity.
“The Government can empower these communities by providing $10 million a year over ten years in grants to NGOs and community groups for health-related capacity-building.
“The AMA also has a plan for the health-related capacities that need to be supported throughout life, with a particular focus on adolescent and early teenage years for Indigenous Australians, when the risks of alcohol abuse, substance use, and other harmful behaviours can emerge.
“We will be seeking to further develop this plan with the Government and NGOs,” Dr Hambleton said.
The AMA believes that community capacity is seriously eroded when Indigenous people continue to be branded as deviants and alcoholics.
Dr Hambleton said this is still happening in the territory with the alcohol and pornography signs that are erected outside the Alice Springs town camps.
“These signs humiliate and demoralise Indigenous people,” Dr Hambleton said.
“The AMA urges the Prime Minister to make arrangements for all these signs to come down immediately.”
Background
There are many examples of successful health-related capacity building already operating in Indigenous communities, including:
- World Vision setting up playgroups for young Indigenous mothers and toddlers in local towns near Alice Springs to increase their awareness and understanding of good nutrition for babies and toddlers;
- the Bulgarr Ngaru Aboriginal Medical Service (Grafton) works with the local school to develop a school market garden, where children can have fresh daily fruit and vegetables, and families can learn about healthy eating and nutrition; and
- the Deadly Blokes and Kids program run by Save the Children, which works to help Indigenous leaders in the East Kimberley develop their own community approaches to strengthening relationships between ‘at risk’ and ‘hard to reach’ men, and their families and children.
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