Policy
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First Nations team to drive learning on how to help children get the best start in life
Freya Lucas
Mar 17, 2023
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A team led by First nations medical and social health researchers will investigate how to improve First Nations wellbeing during pregnancy, birth and early childhood to help give more children the best start to life.
The research team includes maternal, child health and early years clinicians, epidemiologists, health science researchers, policy and decision-makers, partner organisations and implementation scientists, including national and global leaders.Associate Professor Yvonne Clark, a Kokatha/Wirangu woman and clinical psychologist, will take the driver’s seat, as one of seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander chief investigators involved in the project. The Australian Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council is providing $5 million in funding for the project.
Language groups represented in the research project include Kuku Yalangji (Torres Strait), Trawlwoolway (Tasmania), Waljen and Nyinina (Western Australia).
The research aims to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families to access the healthcare they need after identifying their concerns via the app, ‘Baby Coming You Ready?’.
More than 3,000 women across eight locations will be given access to the app, which was first co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders in Western Australia. It asks women and their partners a series of questions to identify concerns before and after their baby arrives, assisting with referral to appropriate care.
As well as improving maternal healthcare knowledge, the program directly addresses two Closing the Gap targets: healthy birth weights for babies, and children being developmentally on track in their early years.
The researchers will develop a tailored care program called Coolamon (a traditional bark or wooden vessel used to carry items and babies) to provide additional support and care for high needs families identified through the app.
The project will seek to identify "strength-based, action-oriented" approaches and interventions that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s concepts of health and wellbeing, cultural practices, knowledge and learning, and will support the development of a national network so professionals can promote lessons and ensure the sustainability and transferability of their research.
Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families need access to culturally safe health care, and this First Nations-led research program "will deliver just that, supporting mothers and families to help give children the best possible start in life".
“Better outcomes are achieved when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are involved in the design and delivery of policies, programs and services that affect them," Senator McCarthy said.
Associate Professor Clark said she was excited to be involved in "this innovative and inspirational research".
"With me there will be the strength, wisdom and skills of many others including our investigators, staff, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and our key partners," she said.
“Concerns about the gaps in this area have been raised at many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community accountability forums and it is a privilege for our team to be entrusted to take this topic forward.”
National Health and Medical Research Council chief executive, Professor Anne Kelso AO, said one of the key strengths of the project is its leadership by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers.
"The team will use tools designed with Elders to help mothers during pregnancy and after birth so that their babies can be strong and healthy," she concluded.
Learn more about the app here.
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