Indigenous child health on DVD | |
Start strong. Grow strong. Rural Health Education Foundation. Canberra: Rural Health Education Foundation, 2006 (DVD/video, 27 mins each). |
The Start Strong and Grow Strong programs, available together on a single DVD, highlight a number of community-based programs and initiatives that focus on improving health and social outcomes for Indigenous babies and children in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and major towns. The first program, Start Strong, covers antenatal care and infant health. The second, Grow Strong, identifies current health programs and social issues impacting on Indigenous children’s early years — the under 5s. Both programs provide current evidence of community initiatives to improve outcomes for Indigenous children. Earlier in 2006, the Federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, urged action to correct the Indigenous disadvantage, which is a national issue needing urgent solutions. With the current media coverage of poor health outcomes in the Indigenous population, these examples of successful programs and services — as a result of community consultation and involvement, and sustainability of service — provide some examples of successful ways forward. Initiatives featured in Start Strong include the “Strong Women, Strong Babies, Strong Culture” program that runs across northern Australia; Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Services in Queensland; the Daruk Aboriginal Community Controlled Medical Service in western Sydney, New South Wales; the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (Congress Alukura) in Alice Springs, Northern Territory; and the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council Nutrition Program in the NT and South Australia. Grow Strong gives examples from Jirnani Child Care Centre on Bathurst Island and the “Growth Assessment and Action” program in the NT. Health professionals and community members — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — provide perspectives on the importance of a holistic approach to care, which includes consideration of social issues such as geographic location, housing, education, access to healthy and reasonably priced food, and relevant, culturally sensitive health promotion (eg, smoking and alcohol in pregnancy). These programs are of particular interest to health professionals who are considering working or are already working with Indigenous communities or with Indigenous people in the broader community, to prompt consideration of appropriate health programs and ways to deliver these. They are also of relevance to all Australians concerned for improved health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Barbara Bauert
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