Research
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must help lead research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issues to help ensure the closing of the gap, researchers say
Researchers are advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be involved in Indigenous health research in a bid to Close the Gap.
Professor Yvonne Cadet-James, chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus, says it is important to determine not just whether enough Indigenous health research is being funded, but who is conducting the research as well.
“As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we understand the historical, cultural and political perspectives, and that understanding helps us frame our research,” she says.
“We have insight into the difficulties in conducting that research due to the impact of colonisation. The real, on-the-ground needs, and what people are experiencing in terms of the social determinants of health, including poverty.”
Professor Cadet-James says that First Nations input is crucial in emerging research areas, particularly genetics and genomics.
“We need to make sure that we’re involved, and that we have some very experienced researchers,” she says.
“People in research haven’t had a very good reputation in terms of taking tissue and blood samples and conducting experiments on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, so we have input into guidelines and how that research might look. And making sure that people are protected.”
Lowitja Institute CEO, Adjunct Professor Janine Mohamed, and executive manager of research and knowledge translation, Associate Professor Michelle Kennedy, explained the importance of ethics in research design.
“Indigenous peoples have been conducting research to understand complex systems of knowledge since time immemorial,” wrote Adjunct Professor Mohamed and Associate Professor Kennedy in a recent article in the Medical Journal of Australia.
“Since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been subject to ongoing unethical and inhumane research.
“In an attempt for protection, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have acted swiftly and led the prioritisation, consultation, development and consensus of specific ethical guidance and principles,” they wrote.
“But little investment has been made to uphold the ethical principles and practices established for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
In 2018, the Australian Human Rights Commission released the Close the Gap: 10 Year Review, showing that Australian governments “have not succeeded in closing the health gap,” and arguing that the current course will need to change.
Currently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males born between 2015 and 2017 are expected to live to 71.6 years, while non-Indigenous males are expected to live to 80.2 years. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females are expected to live to 75.6 years, while non-Indigenous females are expected to live to 83.4 years.