ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 24
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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What happens when Aboriginal health is in Aboriginal hands
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Dr Jason Agostino, Donnella Mills, Dawn Casey
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
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This session, presented by three leaders from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communitycontrolled health sector, namely Donnella Mills, Dawn Casey and Jason Agostino, will show how a
model of primary healthcare, developed by a small Aboriginal community in response to systemic
racism in the 1960s, has now become a best-practice model for the mainstream.
The success has been demonstrated in the recent pandemic. While First Nations populations in other
countries experienced the highest death rates in the world, deaths among Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people were far less than their share of the population, despite significantly higher
comorbidities and 2.3-times the burden of disease
In 1971, Redfern set up its own health service. Similar Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health
Organisations (ACCHOs) sprang up around the country. These developments even predated
Medibank in 1975. There are now 145 ACCHOs, operating 550 clinics, Australia-wide. Collectively,
they employ over 7000 staff (54% are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders), which makes them the third
largest employer of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people in the country.
The primary healthcare approach developed at Redfern was innovative. It mirrored international
aspirations at the time for accessible, effective and comprehensive healthcare with a focus on
prevention and social justice. It even influenced the WHO Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care
in 1978. This model continues to develop to meet the needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
community, through multidisciplinary team-based care that spans public health, primary care and
advocacy.
In a year in which Australia is stumbling towards a referendum to consider a Voice to Parliament and
constitutional recognition for its First Nations peoples, it is all the more important to demonstrate what
happens when Aboriginal health is in Aboriginal hands.
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