Health
AIATSIS is a core partner of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH) and all health research projects it is involved with harmonise with the goals, priorities and objectives of the CRCAH.
Projects relating to health are listed below.
Adolescent Health
Researcher: Kerry Arabena
Indigenous Health Citizenship Project
Researcher: Kerry Arabena
This project outlines a model of the 'Universal Citizen', and uses a framework that connects Indigenous philosophies with ecological perspectives to underpin strategies for living into the twenty-first century. The framework synthesises the relationships between Indigenous and ecological knowledge, place and sustainable citizen states in Australia. Ms Arabena published preliminary results in a paper entitled 'The Universal Citizen: An Indigenous citizenship framework for the twenty-first century' in a peer-reviewed journal and was invited to present this work at a conference on ecological sustainability and sustainable societies in Halifax, Canada in June 2007.
Civil Societies
Researcher: Kerry Arabena
Gross Domestic Happiness: Translating Possibilities
Researcher: Kerry Arabena
Reproductive Management: Impact on Indigenous Women's Health and Societies
Researcher: Kerry Arabena
The National Trachoma and Eye Health Program History Project: An Aboriginal Perspective
Researchers: Gordon Briscoe, Jilpia Nappaljari Jones, and Leila Smith
The National Trachoma and Eye Health Program (NTEHP) was a national survey on the eye health of rural, and particularly Indigenous, Australians, which was conducted from 1976 to 1978. NTEHP project workers travelled through every state and territory, visiting remote towns, properties and offshore islands including the Torres Strait Islands. In addition to the survey work, the program provided treatment for eye health problems. The NTEHP history project surveyed surviving NTEHP project workers about the work of the Program. This project focuses on the significance of the NTEHP in the history of Indigenous health.
The Muuji Regional Centre for Social and Emotional Wellbeing Project
Researchers: Jodie Fisher and the Muuji Regional Centre team, and Graham Henderson
The Muuji Regional Centre for Social and Emotional Wellbeing is a consortium of three Aboriginal community controlled health and medical services: Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service (Canberra), Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation (Wagga Wagga), and Katungul Aboriginal Corporation and Community Medical Service (Narooma). This research project is investigating one of the four core objectives of the National Regional Centre Program for Social and Emotional Wellbeing. This objective relates to the development of information systems to clarify the level of emotional and social wellbeing need in the region and to inform the operations of the Muuji Regional Centre. We are developing an information base using survey questionnaire instruments. The aim is to understand the needs of the community in this region and the services that are available.
The Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service Prison Project
Researchers: Julie Tongs, Peter Sharp, Jodie Fisher, Jo Victoria, Katja Mikhailovich, Nerelle Poroch, John Van den Dungen, and Graham Henderson
This research project was initiated by Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service in response to the decision by the ACT government to build a prison within the ACT. Currently people convicted in the ACT are sent to prisons outside the ACT. Winnunga provides a health service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates of the Goulburn and Cooma jails in NSW, Belconnen Remand Centre and Quamby Youth Detention Centre, both in the ACT. This project aims to develop a best practice model of holistic health care delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates of the new jail and their families and Aboriginal health workers involved in their care.