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First Nations women often experience harmful, inequitable maternity care, shaped by intergenerational trauma and culturally unsafe care. Historical forced removal of First Nations children has created enduring trauma that influences pregnancy and birthing experiences. In the Australian Capital Territory, maternity care is provided through Western biomedical systems, where increasing child protection interventions and fear of surveillance affect women's engagement with care.
The early years are critical for lifelong wellbeing, with transition to formal school a key period for development. For Indigenous children, this transition provides opportunities to build on cultural strengths and belonging. However, many children face systemic barriers that impact their transition experiences, highlighting a need for culturally safe programs that support Indigenous families during this significant time.
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.
Integrating First Nations knowledge systems and Western research methodologies recognizes the strength, experience, and insight of First Nations peoples in addressing health issues in their communities. In research, this includes projects being led by First Nations Elders and peoples, including First Nations researchers in the team, and collecting data in ways that reflect First Nations ways of knowing, being, and doing.
Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from their families by child protection services remain connected to their kin, Country and culture is a priority to begin to redress the intergenerational trauma and harm caused by colonisation. This article describes the views of staff working in three mainstream out-of-home care organisations, where children are cared for by non-Indigenous foster carers.
Globally, Indigenous peoples have incurred significant harm due to colonisation of their lands. Dispossession of culture, language, family and land, and the historical, systematic removal of children in Australia (the ‘Stolen Generation’), has resulted in evident ongoing negative outcomes in the contemporary lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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.
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.
Indigenous children in colonised nations experience high rates of health disparities linked to historical trauma resulting from displacement and dispossession, as well as ongoing systemic racism. Skin infections and their complications are one such health inequity, with the highest global burden described in remote-living Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (hereafter respectfully referred to as Aboriginal) children. Yet despite increasing urbanisation, little is known about the skin infection burden for urban-living Aboriginal children.