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The prevalence of impetigo and pharyngitis - which are both superficial group A streptococcus (GAS) infections that precede acute rheumatic fever - is poorly defined. Guidelines recommend the early diagnosis of both infections to prevent ARF; however, screening to enable the concurrent detection of these infections in high-risk populations has rarely been performed.
First Nations women in Australia continue to experience disproportionately adverse maternal and infant outcomes. The ongoing legacy of colonisation and systemic racism shapes these outcomes. In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), maternity services remain dominated by Western biomedical approaches that fail to deliver culturally safe and anti-racist care despite national standards that mandate such practices.
Youth-onset type 2 diabetes is an emerging condition impacting Indigenous populations worldwide. Schools have an important role in supporting students to manage their health. We undertook a qualitative study to (i) explore the lived experience of type 2 diabetes, diabetes management and support in school environments and (ii) co-design recommendations for age-appropriate, culturally safe school-based strategies and supports. Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth, caregivers, health professionals and school-based staff. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth were involved in determining the research topic.
Aboriginal children and families contend with higher rates of preventable infectious diseases that can be attributed to their immediate living environment. The environments in which children spend most of their time are their homes and schools. We aimed to understand the opportunities in the school setting to support student skin health and wellbeing through environmental health activities, how these activities were completed, and the barriers to their implementation.
Remote Aboriginal communities in Australia are located on traditional lands holding deep cultural significance and meaning for residents. However, systemic inequity rooted in colonisation has driven persistent housing and health disparities, with inadequate environmental health conditions within homes and communities a prominent example.
Although essential for overall health and wellbeing, little is known about skin health in urban-living Australian Aboriginal children. This co-designed, research-service project aimed to describe skin health and document skin disease frequency in urban-living Aboriginal children and young people in Western Australia and investigate housing associations for skin infections.
Reflexivity is crucial for researchers and health professionals working within Aboriginal health. Reflexivity provides a tool for non-Aboriginal researchers to contribute to the broader intention of reframing historical academic positivist paradigms into Indigenous research methodologies to privilege Aboriginal voices in knowledge construction and decision-making.
This paper outlines the theory of change which underpins the Western Australian (WA) hub of the Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) network. HEAL is an Australian national research initiative that aims to address the health impacts of climate and environmental change. The WA hub's theory of change is focused on improving the health and well-being of the planet and people, including children, through centring Indigenous sovereignty, voices and ways of knowing and being in research, policy development and service provision.
Limited available data indicate that dementia prevalence rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter Aboriginal) peoples are 3–5 times higher than the overall Australian population. Effective, pragmatic and scalable interventions are urgently required to address this disproportionate burden of dementia in Aboriginal populations.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, and adults over 60 years of age. Infants born prematurely, adults aged over 75 years, individuals with medical conditions such as chronic cardiac or respiratory disease, or obesity, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are at increased risk of severe RSV disease.