In 2007/2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to six ambitious targets for closing the health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal people. This included a commitment to close the 17 year gap in life expectancy within a generation and to halve the gap in mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged less than five years of age within a decade.

The Victorian state-wide implementation plan under the COAG Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health National Partnerships Agreement was endorsed by the Social Development Committee of Cabinet in May 2009. Under the implementation plan, the Department of Health (DH) established the Grampians Indigenous Reference Group (GIRG) to develop a regional plan that addressed five state-wide priorities in Aboriginal[1] health: 

• Tackling smoking 
• Primary health care services that can deliver 
• Fixing the gaps and improving the patient journey 
• Healthy transition to adulthood 
• Making Indigenous health everyone’s business

During 2009 and 2010, Wimmera Primary Care Partnership (WPCP) held several strategic planning workshops with their partner agencies where it was evident there was a strong commitment to making services more culturally appropriate and inclusive for Aboriginal people.

In 2010, WPCP received funding from the DH to facilitate a project which focused on organisational change within mainstream agencies to become more culturally competent to better provide for Aboriginal people. This project, entitled Towards Cultural Security, fits with both the state and federal reform priorities of: 

• Primary health care services that can deliver 
• Making Indigenous health everyone’s business

Closing the gap in Aboriginal health in the Wimmera is supported by WPCP’s strategic priority of reducing health inequalities. The goal of Towards Cultural Security is to improve Aboriginal people’s access, experience and outcomes of mainstream services.

The project began in July 2010 and will be delivered over a two year period, ending in June 2012. It will be delivered in a flexible way to build and maintain respectful partnerships with the local Aboriginal communities and their repesentative and service organisations.

Objectives
Methodology
Outputs
Outcomes
Contact Details

Cultural Competency
Cultural Competency Theory
Cultural Competency Continuum
Cultural Competency Toolkits

Welcome to and Acknowledgement of Country

Further Reading
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[1] On this site the term Aboriginal refers to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Aboriginal is used in preference to Indigenous; however, Indigenous is retained when it is part of a title of a report, program or quotation.

Important and Relevant Links and Documents

To read more on National Reform click here.

For Grampians specific data click here.

Click here for the relevant Victorian Department Health Link.

Click here to access the Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.

Employing Indigenous Australians - A Guide for Employers

A Guide - How Healthy is Your Approach to Aboriginal Health - July 2009

Victorian Aboriginal Health Plan 2009

Framework for Measuring Wellbeing: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 2010 (First Issue)



For more information call Abby Cooper on (03) 5362 1226.