Collaboration to Reduce Disparities in Chronic Diseases

Funded Activity Summary

In Australia, New Zealand and Canada, we have deferred morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases into old age. By contrast, however, with most of our citizens, indigenous men and women live with, and die young from, chronic diseases. Diabetes, heart and kidney disease fundamentally reduce the resilience of these individuals, their families and communities. This research collaboration will address: 1) the reasons for these persistent disparities in the burden of chronic diseases; 2) how these disparities are theorised and the effect of this on intervention design; 3) factors which promote individual and community resilience to the incidence and impact of chronic diseases; 4) how resilience is theorised in the literature and how this fits into indigenous theoretical paradigms such as kaupapa M_ori theory; 5) the macroeconomic consequences, in terms of loss of economic productivity, direct health care costs and the effects on household viability and dependency; 6) how best to deliver appropriate primary health care services to prevent and manage chronic diseases; and 7) establishment of an annual working forum bringing together key stakeholders from each country to develop a coherent policy agenda to address disparities in chronic diseases. We plan to critically examine how the cumulative interplay, across the life-course, of exposure, susceptibility and resistance, drives health disparities. How does our thinking about how and whether these factors operate at individual, family, community and national levels, inform policy-making? At all of these levels, we will systematically review data which describe the burden of chronic diseases and outcomes with treatment. We will estimate the costs of chronic diseases amongst the Indigenous populations of our respective countries. In each country, we will use our research, primary care and policy networks to identify examples of successful prevention and management programs. Having reviewed these programs, we will use them as case studies in communicating our findings to key stakeholders. We will seek to collaborate with relevant state- provincial and national government departments in the research process, to expedite translation of our findings into policy and into improved service delivery and will use the annual working forum to drive this policy agenda.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2005

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Strategic Awards

Funding Amount: $15,000.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

ICIHRP | Indigenous Health | International Collaboration | Research Partnership | Resilience

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