Child and maternal health roundtable: Priorities for interventions

Some 40 people attended the Roundtable (held on 8 March 2012 in Melbourne) including representatives from the Aboriginal community controlled health sector, government agencies, universities and research institutes. The discussions led to the development of a set of strategies and recommendations to address the key issues and knowledge ‘gaps’ identified by the Roundtable, grouped by the following themes:

• Theme 1: Using data to inform interventions, develop collaborations and improve health outcomes.
• Theme 2: Adopting a causal pathway approach to improving the health and educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
• Theme 3: Perinatal health – use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances and their impact on child development.
• Theme 4: Parental education and improved outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander maternal and child health.

Presentations

• An Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Maternal and Child Health Research in Australia
  Associate Professor Roz Walker, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and The University of Western Australia
• The power of data: data – policy – practice
  Associate Professor Jane Freemantle, The University of Melbourne
• Adopting a causal pathways approach to improving the health and educational outcomes of Indigenous children
  Professor Sven Silburn, Menzies School of Health Research
• Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis – and their impact on child development
  Dr Megan Passey, University of Sydney

Reference group

• Roz Walker (Coordinator), Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and The University of Western Australia
• Kathleen Clapham, Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong
• Lisa Shipley, The University of Newcastle
• Jennifer Reith, University of Western Sydney
• Rhonda Marriot (Facilitator), Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre, Murdoch University, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and The University of Western Australia

Related resources:

• Child and Maternal Health Roundtable Report
• Early childhood roundtable
• Research roundtables 

We would like to acknowledge the CAGES Foundation support for this body of work.