All-Indigenous panel tackles chronic disease in April 27th broadcast
April 5, 2010An interactive television broadcast and simultaneous webcast about chronic disease in Indigenous communities - the first Rural Health Education Foundation program to feature an exclusively Indigenous panel of experts - will occur on Tuesday April 27th.
Sharing Solutions: Indigenous Communities Tackling Chronic Disease aims to increase the capacity of health professionals to respond more effectively to the health and wellbeing needs of Indigenous adults.
The hour-long program, which features filmed case studies and a panel discussion chaired by Indigenous ABC Radio presenter Daniel Browning, explores successful community-based primary healthcare initiatives that have an emphasis on prevention and health promotion.
Indigenous experts showcase community solutions
“It’s a great pleasure to launch the first Foundation-produced broadcast to feature an all-Indigenous panel of presenters,” says Rural Health Education Foundation CEO Don Perlgut. “And the program’s theme could not be more appropriate: Indigenous health practitioners sharing practical, home-grown solutions for chronic disease problems in Indigenous communities.”
“The community-based strategies showcased in this new program have not only been successful in ameliorating Indigenous health disadvantage, but also in building capacity and resilience,” Mr Perlgut says. “The Sharing Solutions program underlines the fact that the gap in life expectancy won’t be closed unless chronic disease issues are addressed in a way that values autonomy, cultural identity, and community responsibility.”
Case studies discussed by an Indigenous panel
Sharing Solutions features filmed case studies and a live panel discussion chaired by Daniel Browning, Presenter and Producer of Awaye! on ABC Radio National.
The panel of experts features Dr Alex Brown, Head of the Centre for Indigenous Vascular and Diabetes Research for the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Alice Springs, NT; Mrs Sally Goold, Chairperson and Executive Director of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses, QLD; Ms Leisa McCarthy, Nutritionist & Chronic Conditions Program Leader at the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health in Darwin, NT; and Dr Mark Wenitong, Senior Medical Officer at the Apunipima Cape York Health Council in Cairns, QLD.
Program funding
Sharing Solutions: Indigenous Communities Tackling Chronic Disease is produced with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, with additional funding provided by an untied educational grant from MSD in support of better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust and the Rural Health Education Foundation also contributed funding for this program.
Broadcast details
Sharing Solutions: Indigenous Communities Tackling Chronic Disease will be broadcast across the Rural Health Education Foundation’s satellite television network on Tuesday 27th April at 8.00pm (AEST), with repeats at 8.00pm Perth time that same evening (three hours later) and 12.30pm on Friday 30th April.
Available via satellite, as a web-cast and by web-streaming
The Sharing Solutions program will be available for viewing live as a simulcast via the Foundation’s satellite network and via web-casting from our website. (Please register for the live web-cast in advance through the program summary page).
After its initial simulcast, the program will also be available free on the Internet for viewing via web-streamed video or listening via an audio podcast.
About chronic disease in Indigenous communities
The burden of disease suffered by Indigenous Australians is estimated to be two-and-a-half times greater than the burden of disease in the total Australian population. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, respiratory and kidney diseases have a major impact on that burden and Indigenous Australians experience their onset at a far earlier age than other Australians.
The major chronic diseases experienced by Indigenous people generally share common risk factors and are also influenced by cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. Addressing problems related to all these factors is crucial both in preventing chronic disease and mitigating its progression, associated complications, and co-morbidities. Integral to that process is the need to understand the Indigenous perspective on health and wellbeing and Indigenous concepts of causation.
About panel chair Daniel Browning
Daniel Browning is the presenter and producer of Awaye! on ABC Radio National. A former news director at Triple J, he has worked for the ABC since 1994.
Daniel is from the Minjungbal clan of the Bundjalung nation whose traditional country is on the far north coast of New South Wales. Through his mother, he is a descendant of the Kullilli people of south-western Queensland and the traditional owners of the Gold Coast hinterland.
More information
For more information about the Sharing Solutions program - including presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources - go to the online program summary, or contact the Foundation.