Aboriginal health

Closing the Gap

General Practice SA and seven of the South Australian Divisions of General Practice have funding under the "Closing the Gap – Improving Indigenous Access to Mainstream Primary Care" program.  However, Aboriginal health is 'everybody’s business’ and GPSA provides support and advice to the other seven Divisions across Closing the Gap initiatives.
 
On 29 November 2008, COAG agreed to a $1.6 billion Indigenous Health National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes to address the target of closing the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.

The aim of the program is to contribute to 'closing the gap' in life expectancy by improving access to culturally appropriate primary care services for Indigenous people. The objectives are to:

• increase access to mainstream primary care services for Indigenous Australians
• improve the capacity of general practice to delivery culturally appropriate primary care service
• increase awareness and understanding of 'Closing the Gap' measures relevant to mainstream primary care
• foster collaboration between the mainstream primary care and the Indigenous health sectors.
  

Overview

General Practice SA is committed to working with South Australian divisions and the Aboriginal Community Controlled health sector to improve access to health care, especially primary health care for indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal people make up 1.8 per cent of the South Australian population, and 5.4 per cent of the Australian Aboriginal population.  South Australia’s Aboriginal population has a noticeably different profile to the non-Aboriginal population, with a very young age structure, reflecting higher birth rates and shorter life expectancy. 

Of the 25,556 Aboriginal people recorded in the 2006 Census, about 56 per cent were under the age of 25 compared to 32 per cent of the non-Aboriginal population.

Working together to Close the Gap

GPSA has an integrated and collaborative approach to Aboriginal health and has strong working relationships with key partners, Aboriginal Health Council SA (AHCSA), SA Health, DoHA, RDWA, OATSIH and Cancer Council SA.

There is a significant partnership between GPSA and Aboriginal Health Council SA with both organisations working together to ensure communication and resources are shared across both networks.