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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing

Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition

GLOBE has a cohesive program of work focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition policy and the corporate determinants of First Nations Peoples’ health. Our work also focuses on developing culturally safe and rigorous approaches to research with First Nations Peoples and application of systems thinking in Indigenous health research.

Nutrition is a key factor contributing to the persistent gap in health outcomes between First Nations Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians. Our research identifies food and nutrition policy actions that are likely to be effective and acceptable for First Nations Peoples.

As part of this research, we are also interested in the commercial factors that influence First Nations Peoples’ health and wellbeing, such as the supply and marketing of unhealthy products and political lobbying by companies that produce these unhealthy products.

We work as a collaborative, culturally safe team of First Nations and non-Indigenous researchers, using scientific methods that align with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. The outcomes of our work will be used to improve policy decisions and accountability of governments and the private sector regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.

  • Aboriginal Data and Action on Prevention Together (ADAPT) Project

    We partnered with the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) to present the findings of a secondary analysis of 2 Victorian child health datasets using a strengths-based approach.

    Our aims were to:

    • report the prevalence of healthy weight, diet, physical activity and health-related quality of life among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal primary school-aged children in regional Victoria
    • explore whether health-related quality of life is associated with health behaviours
    • provide this information to VACCHO and its member ACCOs in a format that would be useful for them.

  • Food Policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heath (FoodPATH)

    This VicHealth-funded project—in partnership with VACCHO—aims to identify which food policy actions are likely to be most effective and acceptable for Victorian Aboriginal communities. We use culturally tailored group model building (GMB) methods, led by trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facilitators, to understand the system of factors influencing food choice and identify priority food policy actions. https://www.vaccho.org.au/foodpath