Recent Press Coverage
2009
August, 2009
"From the mean streets to a mission to help"
August 29-30, 2009 in
The Australian
Profiles Professor Jackson Pulver and includes "The
Koori Growing Old Well Study, which is primarily funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, is recruiting up to 750 Aboriginal people aged 45 and over who live in NSW or the ACT. They will undergo detailed questioning on their childhood and adult life and cognitive testing. Results from the research should start flowing at the end of next year or early 2011. The goal is to gain a clearer picture of dementia in Aboriginal communities ..."
2009
March, 2009
"Lost Memories"
March 16, 2009 on SBS: Living Black
Professor Jackson Pulver discusses the
Koori Growing Old Well Study: "We’re seeing a lot of people that have got this early onset dementia and people who are demented, who may not have been properly diagnosed or been treated. So what it will do, it will give us some hardcore scientific evidence that will say, 'This is how it is, this is what it looks like "and these are the resources that our communities need right now.' "
Source:
http://news.sbs.com.au/livingblack/lost_memories_563601
2007
September, 2007
"Researcher 'gobsmacked' by Indigenous dementia levels"
September 18, 2007 on
ABC Radio
Reporting a study finding Indigenous Australians are 26 times more likely to develop dementia than the rest of the Australian population, and some sufferers are as young as 45 years old.
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver says she was shocked by the findings.
"We were gobsmacked, we were looking at levels like this for people who are relatively young, 45 years and over ... That is way too young to be living with a condition such as dementia, a condition that we would identify in the broader Australian community with people over 80 or 85 years of age."
Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/18/2036122.htm
August, 2007
"Aboriginal Ageing"
August 26, 2007 on
ABC Radio: Speaking Out
Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver from MMIHU and SPHCM Conjoint Professor G. A. (Tony) Broe ask the question: Aboriginal ageing: is there such a thing? The pair discuss how the Aboriginal population in New South Wales is entering a third demographic transition with infant mortality falling and the Aboriginal population increasing in absolute numbers, as well as growing younger. Aboriginal people are likely to be "healthy survivors" rather than suffer "premature ageing".
Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/speakingout/stories/s2018572.htm
In 2007, the Shalom Gamarada Art Exhibition was, for the third year, widely represented in print and radio media and promotional activities. Selected articles include:
July, 2007
"Dose of art cash boost Aboriginal health" by Belinda Kontominas, Medical Reporter
July 20, 2007 in
The Sydney Morning Herald
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is reported as saying, '... many Aboriginal students droppped out of uni because they did not have the financial means to live close to campus or their home life made it difficult to study.
"We have gone from being a university with one of the worst retention rates of Aboriginal students in the country, to being one of the best ... This program is now attracting other students to feel safe about coming to the city and studying and being supported."
"The art of being a doctor: Painting sale funds Aboriginal scholarships" by Kate Sikora
July 14, 2007 in
The Daily Telegraph
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is quoted "When I was in hospital my great grand mother couldn't visit me because they didn't let Aborigines in hospitals ... I decided from a young age ... when something is in your heart it is very hard to turn down that passion." The article includes: 'So far 11 scholarships have been offered at the university, largely through the work of Dr Lisa Pulver, the first Aborigine to receive a Ph. D in medicine at Sydney University.'
In early 2007, MMIHU contributed the Australian and New Zealand chapter of a working paper commissioned by the World Health Organisation: An Overview of the Current Knowledge of the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health (NB: Large file warning). The launch of the Australian component drew extensive national Indigenous and mainstream print and radio media and considerable international coverage and was regularly quoted by advocates at ensuing National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week events in May. Samples of some media are include:
May, 2007
"Aborigines' health lags by 100 years" by Barbara McMahon
May 2, 2007, The Guardian
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, from the University of New South Wales indigenous [sic] health unit, said: "On many levels, indigenous health remains unacceptably low and at levels experienced nearly a century ago by our non-indigenous peers."
May, 2007
"Worst in the world for indigenous health" by Joel Gibson
May 1, 2007,
Sydney Morning Herald
THE health of Aborigines lags almost 100 years behind other Australians and they are the sickest indigenous people of all the wealthy nations, a report by the World Health Organisation says.
The report into indigenous health worldwide found Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders had significantly worse results than non-indigenous people on every health indicator, resulting in an average life expectancy 17 years below that of white Australians and an average age of death of just 33 for Aboriginal males in some parts of NSW.
Some Aborigines still suffer from leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis, which were banished from the white population decades ago, says the report, compiled by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and presented to the WHO's Commission on the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health in Adelaide yesterday.
"On many indicators, [indigenous] health now remains unacceptably lower and at levels experienced nearly a century ago by our non-indigenous peers," said Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the University of NSW's Indigenous Health Unit, co-author of the chapter on Australia and New Zealand.
Progress would not be made until the Government publicly acknowledged the role of Aborigines' "stress, alienation, discrimination and lack of control" in creating poor indigenous health, the authors wrote.
"Prime Minister Howard refers to the recognition of past wrongs as the black armband view of history, for which he is unwilling to say sorry. His government favours 'practical reconciliation' as an approach, claiming this will lead to better outcomes. It is acknowledged by the government that Aboriginal Australians have poorer health, educational, employment and social outcomes, however the solutions that are to address these issues have little to do with the underlying causes - a combination of material deprivation and psycho-social stressors related to stress, alienation, discrimination and lack of control."
The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said Aboriginal health was an international scandal, and an injection of about $500 million a year was needed in the next federal budget to deal with it.
The Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, said the gap was "something which no one can be happy about but if it were easy to tackle it would have been tackled a long time ago. It's all very well to talk about formal apologies but I think indigenous people and the general population are much more interested in seeing better practical outcomes than in gestures, however meaningful those gestures might be to some".
He said a funding increase was likely in the budget, but not in the area of $500 million. "You have to have the infrastructure in place to get results. We want to make sure that as far as is humanly possible, we get results from our spending."
Labor's spokeswoman on indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, said: "We need a bipartisan national commitment to real goals and targets to improve the health and life expectancy of indigenous people. That also means creating jobs, decent education and safe housing."
The paper will be delivered at WHO headquarters in Geneva next month.
Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/worst-for-indigenous-health/2007/04/30/1177788058906.html
Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald
April, 2007
"Aboriginal health lagging 100 years behind" by Emma Young
April 30, 2007,
New Scientist
The health of Australian aboriginals is 100 years behind that of the rest of the population, according to a new report.
Indigenous people, which account for about 2.4% of Australians, are plagued by health problems that have not affected the rest of the country’s population for many years, Lisa Jackson Pulver at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues, who carried out the study.
“Leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis haven’t been experienced in white populations for decades, but they are still problems for some indigenous communities,” Jackson Pulver says.
An Aboriginal male’s life expectancy is 59.4 years, compared with an average 76.6 years for the total male population in Australia. For indigenous women, life expectancy is 64.8 years, compared with 82 years for all Australian women. In some parts of the state of New South Wales, the average age of death of Aboriginal males is just 33 years.
Aboriginal people are more likely to smoke, abuse substances, exercise infrequently and be obese. The resulting high rates of non-communicable diseases in the population, such as heart disease, are to a great extent preventable, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report was submitted today at a meeting of the WHO’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health in Adelaide, South Australia. This commission is investigating the health of indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada. Australian aboriginals have a lower life expectancy than other groups, and the commission’s aim is to develop strategies to improve indigenous health.
Source:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11747-aboriginal-health-lagging-100-years-behind-.html
© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd
"Aboriginal health 100 years behind: report"
Monday, April 30, 2007; 18:32:47,
PM, ABC Radio
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
MARK COLVIN: In the first decade of the 21st Century the scourges of leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis still strike many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Years after medicine and preventive care largely wiped them out in white populations in Australia.
A report to the World Health Organisation has found that Aboriginal health lags a full century behind that of other Australians.
The report by researchers at the University of New South Wales suggests that symbolism is important, even in health care.
It says acknowledging past wrongs done to Aboriginal people would help improve their health.
Jennifer Macey reports.
JENNIFER MACEY: It's hard to believe Australia's Indigenous communities still suffer from leprosy and tuberculosis - diseases most often associated with the developing world.
The difference doctors say, is that in the developing world, modern medicine and drugs such as penicillin are simply not available.
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver from the University of News South Wales Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit.
LISA JACKSON PULVER: For example, Indigenous babies born today can expect to live only as long as people in Australia 100 years ago. The Aboriginal people are dying at the same kinds of rates that people did 100 years ago in Australia.
Now remember, this is the days before penicillin, you know, 100 years ago was the days before broader public health interventions were available, and this is occurring today.
JENNIFER MACEY: Dr Jackson Pulver has written a chapter on Australia's Indigenous population for the World Health Organisation's Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
She says social factors such as colonisation and the stolen generations have had an impact on the living standards and health for Aboriginal people.
LISA JACKSON PULVER: Things like people not having access to education and to health services, people being alienated from their country, land, language and culture, the effects of colonisation are persistent and ongoing.
And all of these things combine together to create a picture of ill health in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
JENNIFER MACEY: These findings are similar to a report released last month by Oxfam and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation or NACCHO. It found that Australia ranks last for health in a table of wealthy countries with Indigenous populations.
NACCHO's Chief Executive Officer Dea Delaney Thiele says a one per cent increase in the health budget would put Indigenous health spending on par with the rest of Australia.
DEA DELANEY THIELE: If you were to look at the reports that have been commissioned by governments, if you look at Access Economics, that's a figure of about $450 million and that's just to bring it up onto par with what other Australians get. That doesn't actually take into consideration the burden of ill health.
JENNIFER MACEY: The Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott acknowledges the gap between the life expectancy for Aboriginal people compared to other Australians. But he says it's a long-term problem that requires long-term solutions.
TONY ABBOTT: This Government has a much better record than any of its predecessors and I think you'll find us building on that record. But I don't think you can realistically expect an immediate cash injection of the dimension that you suggest, for the simple reason that you've got to have the infrastructure in place to make the spending effective.
JENNIFER MACEY: Mr Abbott doesn't believe simply saying sorry will do much to improve people's health.
TONY ABBOTT: It's all very well to talk about formal apologies and so on, but I think Indigenous people and indeed the general population are much more interested in seeing better practical outcomes than they are in gestures.
JENNIFER MACEY: However, the CEO of NACCOH Dea Delaney Thiele says improving Indigenous health is not just a matter of matter of buying more medical equipment. She says it requires a holistic approach, including preventative health care, adequate housing and promoting healthy lifestyles.
DEA DELANEY THIELE: Our services are underpinned by our definition of health, which is health to Aboriginal people is not just the physical wellbeing of the individual, it's the social, emotional, cultural and spiritual well-being of the whole community.
MARK COLVIN: Dea Delaney Thiele, the CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, ending Jennifer Macey's report.
[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1910466.htm]
© 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
More from Google News:
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©2007 Google
2006
August, 2006
"Indigenous student's dream gets closer" by Natalie Walton
August 16, 2006 in
Australian Doctor
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver is reported as wanting to address the critical shortage of Indigenous doctors, saying that studies in NZ, Canada and the US showed the health of Indigenous people improved signficantly when the number of Indigenous doctors increased.
July, 2006
"Filling the Gap"
July, 2006 in
Bite
MMIHU noted as part of "Filling the Gap" Steering Commitee
June, 2006
"Doctors of the dreamtime" by Nicole Breskin
June 23, 2006 in
Australian Jewish News
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is quoted "Studies show that health relates to education. If you make sure kids stay at school, chances are when they have kids, those kids will be healthier too ... There are not enough indigenous people to look after the needs of their communities."
"STD cases on rise in black children" by Tony Barrass and Ryan Emery
June 23, 2006 in
The Australian
Report providing national data on STDs prompted release of new WA data.
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver is reported as saying that more reliable statistics came out of states with large, discrete Aboriginal communities, such as Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and, more recently, Queensland.
Although health professionals nationally are required to mark a patient's Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status on notifiable deisease forms, Dr Jackson Pulver said they rarely asked patients because they did not consider it a priority next to treatment.
Some did not ask because they did not want to provoke a "redneck reaction" from non-Aboriginal patients, she said.
May, 2006
"Volunteers are filling a vital gap in Aboriginal dental care in remote Queensland"
May 18, 2006 on the
ADA website 'News'
MMIHU noted as part of the "Filling the Gap" Steering Committee
March, 2006
"A program with bite" by Sue Nelson
March 30, 2006 in
The Age
MMIHU noted as part of "Filling the Gap" Steering Committee.
2005
November, 2005
"Project offers hope: Goal is to help the Kinchela Home victims"
November 16, 2005 in
The Koori Mail
Report about the Kinchela Project, being run through the University of NSW, aims to create a long-term plan to help the men who suffred at the home from 1924 until its closure in the 1970s, as well as their families. Under the project, run through the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit at the university, former Kinchela boys are being asked what they believe should be done. Mr Ray Minniecon of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is reported as saying the project is a step towards a better life for the former boys and their families.
"It's one way we can hep to restore these people - to see them restore relationships with their families and with the communities from which they were taken," the Redfern-based pastor said.
June, 2005
"Pain lingers: Stolen Generation member attacks name change"
June 1, 2005 in
The Koori Mail
May, 2005
"Aborigines will keep dying young, health authorities warn" by Erin O'Dwyer
May 29, 2005 in
The Sun Herald
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is reported as saying that the true picture of indigenous health was invariably worse [than the data shows], because about half of indigenous deaths and hospitalisations were not registered.
"There isn't the will to change it ... If the same mortality was occurring in non-indigenous communities you would have so many people dying that each person would be losing someone close to them every week."
"No apology in Howard's optimism for bridging the indigenous divide" by Mark Metherell
May 31 2005 in
The Sydney Morning Herald
Mr Ray Minniecon of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW is quoted "Say sorry".
February, 2005
"Aboriginal student takes up residence at Shalom College"
February 25, 2005 in
The Australian Jewish News
2004
February, 2004
"An 'intolerable' sickness" by Tony Stephens
February 21, 2004 in
The Sydney Morning Herald
There are high hopes that a new campaign will stop the disastrous decline in health among indigenous communities, writes Tony Stephens.
Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the University of NSW School of Public Health, said that Aboriginal men had lower life expectancies today than white men in 1901; Aboriginal women's life expectancy was lower than that of white women in 1910.
Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/20/1077072841904.html