South Australian peak body for Aboriginal health
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
South Australian Health Minister, John Hill, will co-launch a report detailing the achievements and milestones of Australia’s first Centre of Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Adelaide tomorrow.
The CCRE, a partnership between the Aboriginal Health Council of SA (AHCSA) and Flinders University, has been funded under the National Health & Medical Research Council’s Centres of Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) Scheme but will cease operation later this year when that funding finishes.
The Centre’s main focus has been to improve the health of Aboriginal people by conducting quality research and building the research capacity of the Aboriginal community controlled health sector.
CCRE Chair Yvonne Buza says the Centre plays a critical role in strengthening the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector’s involvement in planning, researching and evaluating Aboriginal health interventions.
“The key focus of this project has been to increase Aboriginal capacity to be decisively involved in and prioritise research that will benefit the health of South Australian Aboriginal peoples,” said Ms Buza.
“Working with community-based health organisations such as the Port Lincoln Aboriginal Health Service, Port Augusta’s Pika Wiya Health Service and the Ceduna-Koonibba Aboriginal Health Service has been critical to our successes in monitoring and evaluating health programs to improve the effectiveness of Aboriginal-controlled health services.”
Ms Buza said the Centre had been instrumental in developing a Certificate IV course in Research and Evaluation, which has now been delivered for the first time nationally to Aboriginal people.
“If we are going to close the health inequity gap then it’s essential that Aboriginal people take a decisive role in developing and implementing health programs and this course is a critical capacity building component of this strategy.”
AHCSA aims to continue offering this course as a significant part of efforts to build the capacity of Aboriginal health services to be able to incorporate research and evaluation within their core business and there are also plans to establish a position to coordinate research involvement by the Aboriginal health sector and to assist the sector in determining its research priorities.
The CCRE has also been active in introducing innovative primary health care models for prevention and management of the chronic diseases killing Aboriginal people much earlier in life than non- Aboriginal Australians including a ground-breaking Aboriginal chronic disease self management model, developed with Aboriginal community representatives to ensure its appropriateness.
