This fortnightly eBulletin is distributed by The Lowitja Institute to its stakeholders. It includes information on our activities, general conferences, events and media, job opportunities and new publications, scholarships, courses and seminars. Download the Lowitja Institute eBulletin 16 January 2012.

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.

We are pleased to announce a new report: Legally Invisible — How Australian Laws Impede Stewardship and Governance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health by Genevieve Howse.

This paper explains the options available for Australian governments to articulate and allocate responsibilities for the health and health care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in an enduring, reliable form. It was commissioned by the Lowitja Institute – Australia’s National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research in response to widespread recognition of problems in the policy and administrative arrangements for health and health care for Australia’s First Peoples, including lack of clarity about the responsibilities of governments at various levels.

Download Media Release: Legally Invisible–Lowitja Institute study finds Australian laws and lack of constitutional recognition impedes progress to close the health gap for Australia’s First Peoples.

Download Executive Summary or Full Report.  To purchase a hardcopy ($!5 postage and packaging), please email publications@lowitja.org.au.

See media coverage on our In the Media page.

The Lowitja Institute Annual Report 2010-2011 is now available to download as a pdf.  It provides an overview of our activities for the reporting period, including governance, research projects, events and publications.

The Annual Financial Report 2010-2011 is also now available.

For current and previous Annual Reports, go to our Annual Reports page.

The Lowitja Institute has produced a new publication Art into Health: Puntu Palyarrikuwanpa (Aboriginal Men Becoming Well) by Dr Brian McCoy.

This beautiful full-colour booklet describes a unique collection of 15 paintings through which Aboriginal men from the Western Desert offer their perspectives on their lives and wellbeing through art. Using contemporary techniques and methods, the artists present a wide range of narratives thatlink ancient ways of understanding and describing their world today. The collection, therefore, provides an important and valuable body of knowledge about Aboriginal health.

Copies can be purchased for $15 each (post and handling included).  Enquiries by email to publications@lowitja.org.au .

The Lowitja Institute has published 6 new Managing Two Worlds Together reports.  The project explores rural and remote Aboriginal people's patient journeys and what happens when they come to Adelaide for hospital care.  It aims to add to existing knowledge of what works well and what needs improvement in the system of care for Aboriginal patients from rural and remote areas of South Australia (and parts of the Northern Territory). More information on the Flinders University project can be found on the Managing Two Worlds Together project page.

The following Managing Two Worlds Together publications can be downloaded from our Lowitja Institute Publishing page.

• Managing Two Worlds Together: City Hospital Care for Country Aboriginal People—Project Report
• Community Summary
• Study 1—Report on Admissions and Costs
• Study 2—Staff Perspectives on Care for Country Aboriginal Patients
• Study 3—The Experiences of Patients and Their Carers
• Study 4—Complex Country Aboriginal Patient Journeys

The Lowitja Institute is calling for expressions of interest from researchers seeking support in the development of a research grant application on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander maternal and child health.

The project is to be one that will lead to improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander maternal and child health, and fits with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Equality Council (NIHEC) recommendations.

The expected benefits for applicants are:

• Improve the quality of the research proposal and its chances of being successful
• Receive feedback from qualified researchers and end-users in designing and refining the project
• Maximise the project’s likelihood of having an impact on maternal and child health care
• Connect to a network of people and organisations working in similar research contexts.

For further details and application information, please download the Expression of Interest.  Applications close on Tuesday 15 November 2011.

The Lowitja Institute is very pleased to announce that Associate Professor Gail Garvey has been appointed Program Leader for Program 1 Healthy Start Healthy Life and that Professor Ross Bailie will continue his support in an advisory capacity.

Gail is a Kamilaroi woman whose family originated from Moree, Western NSW. During her Masters degree program, Gail researched the factors affecting the career progression of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors; her PhD explored the reasons why Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people choose to work in health and study health programs. Also in her rich CV are the Assistant Deanship of Indigenous Health and Education at Newcastle University, the position of Head of the QIMR Indigenous Health Research Program, and now Head of the Cancer Epidemiology group at the Menzies School of Health Research. From December 2011, Gail will also take over the leadership of Epidemiology and Health Systems Division at Menzies.

More information on the research program Gail will be leading at the Lowitja Institute are available at CRCATSIH Program 1: Healthy Start, Healthy Life.

This fortnightly eBulletin is distributed by The Lowitja Institute to its stakeholders. It includes information on our activities, general conferences, events and media, job opportunities and new publications, scholarships, courses and seminars. Download the Lowitja Institute eBulletin 31 October 2011.

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.