This fortnightly bulletin is distributed by the Lowitja Institute to its stakeholders.  It includes information on media, reports, events, job opportunities and new publications.  Download Lowitja Institute Bulletin 30 August 2010.

Previous bulletins can be read on the Newsletters page.  If you wish to subscribe to our newsletters, please send us your details using our online subscription form.  Please contact admin@lowitja.org.au  to unsubscribe.

The Healthy Communities and Settings Program of the Lowitja Institute is seeking a suitably qualified researcher to undertake a scoping study that will include a review of Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health projects and other relevant literature addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Constructs of Health. The successful applicant is expected to be able to work independently, to timelines and provide the Program Manager with regular progress reports.

To read more and apply, download Expression of Interest document.  Applications are due by Friday 17 September 2010.

For more information contact Vanessa Harris on Vanessa.Harris@lowitja.org.au or 08 8946 7769.

The Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute is seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Post Doctoral Research Fellow to join the Indigenous Maternal and Child Health Research Group. This role will work with Head, Indigenous Maternal and Child Health Research Group and another Post Doctoral Research Fellow to establish Indigenous pregnancy and birth cohorts investigating prenatal health, fetal growth and chronic disease risk in Indigenous Australians. The successful applicant will support the production of research reports (as co-author) arising from current and proposed research programs.

The successful candidate will have an undergraduate qualification in a health discipline as well as a PhD, with some experience in epidemiological research, including a demonstrated capacity to assist in the production of measurable research outcomes.  The position will be based in Melbourne with regular travel to Alice Springs required for some project meetings and coordination of research projects.

Applications for this position close on Monday 6 September 2010.  Go to the Baker IDI careers page and select Post Doctoral Research Fellow (SE01) for further information and an online application form.

The Lowitja Institute and the Australian National University have launched a new publication with recommendations on how GPs can help Close the Gap.

Better identification of Indigenous patients in general practices would improve their access to Medicare benefits such as health checks that could help ‘Close the Gap’, yet many GPs don’t consider ethnicity to be relevant to quality of care, according to a study from The Australian National University.
 
The study, commissioned by the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APCHRI) at ANU and conducted under the auspices of The Lowitja Institute, reviewed the effectiveness of strategies that aim to improve the identification of Indigenous people.
 
National data and research evidence indicate that less than one third of general practices routinely collect information on the Indigenous status of patients. Improved identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients would support new ‘Closing the Gap’ initiatives to extend the delivery of routine health checks and chronic disease management services.  

Download report: Kelaher, M., Parry, A., Day, S., Paradies, Y., Lawlor, J. & Solomon, L. 2010, Improving the Identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Mainstream General Practice, The Lowitja Institute, Melbourne.

Download media release: GPs can help Close the Gap: Report (27 August 2010)

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, has produced a publication reflecting on the history and achievements of the unit's research, teaching and community development:

Download publication: Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit 2010, An Onemda Decade, Ten Years of Progress in Koori Health, Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

Onemda has been involved in the development of the Lowitja Institute and its predeccessor Cooperative Research Centre Programs.  For more information about the unit, go to http://www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au/.

The Future Justice Prize is awarded to Australian individuals or organisations for leadership and initiative in the advancement of future justice, which is concerned with what those living today leave behind for future generations.  It is awarded for research, publications, projects or programs in various categories. These include; Human Rights, Indigenous, Health, Environment, Climate Change, Population & Intergenerational Debt.

Future Justice, a joint initiative of Future Leaders and the Institute of Legal Studies, is calling for nominations for the 2010 Future Justice Prize to be submitted by 30 September 2010.  The recipient/s will be announced in November.

More information can be found at http://www.futureleaders.com.au/future_justice/prize.php

This month the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, the Journal of the Public Health Association of Australia, has produced a special issue on Indigenous health (volume 34, issue s1, July 2010).  The papers are grouped under the following areas:

• Maternal and infant health
• Chronic Illness
• Alcohol-related burden of disease
• Health behavious
• Opportunities for change

Full papers can be accessed through subscription or one off payments.  To see the list of papers go to the ANZJPH Wiley InterScience portal.