Māori Health Matters
Confessions of a racist Doctor. I am racist. I was born in an Australian capital city, a nation with a history of political non-compliance with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights to its mistreatment of indigenous peoples since 1788. The 1901 White Australia policy excluded people of non-European ethnic...
Kai Māori
Chareese and Alex Henare. Are traditional low carb, healthy fat diets the key to reversing T2DM?...
Deadly Health Jobs – inspiring the next generation of Indigenous health professionals
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Professionals make valuable contributions to healthcare across Australia through their clinical and cultural knowledge skills. Creating sustainable career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers in the health sector is vital to help close the gap in Indigenous...
Researching Remotely
You just can’t miss it. A grass green building with multi-coloured panels representing our frangipanis, sea and sand. The Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicines (AITHM) Tropical Research Centre (or as locals like to call it – the colour-colour building) was officially opened last fortnight on Thursday Island....
Rheumatic ❤️ Disease
‡ Yesterday I saw a four-year-old boy with school sores. The day before my colleague saw a 16-year-old girl with a fever and knee pain. Last week our visiting paediatric cardiologist saw an eight-year-old girl with a new cardiac murmur. Last month our clinic health worker saw a 25-year-old male receiving...
Silos in health care: how can we master them?
A friend of mine recently had a baby. Let’s call her Amy. She lives in one of Australia’s many quaint country towns. This week, in addition to managing the usual sleep deprivation and adjustment that comes with a newborn, she also had several appointments to attend. She saw her...
The Torres Approach to Hepatitis B
Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is widespread in the Torres Strait. Over the last few years there has been a focused effort within the medical team to devise a strategy to ensure safe and appropriate diagnosis and management of CHB. Extensive consultation with the local workforce and relevant specialists guided...
Magnesium. What’s in it for ATSI?
As we improve our preventative health screening practices in Remote Indigenous Health we inevitably encounter incidental abnormalities in routine pathology. Given our limited resources and developing recall systems, what do we do about them? Hypomagnesemia is a common finding in population screening in the Torres Strait. Epidemiological studies have...
Reflections & Resources from the RACGP QLD Clinical Update
I escaped the rock recently and spent the long weekend in Brisbane. In addition to the usual mainland activities (eating out, shopping, attending the local cinema and more shopping), I attended the RACGP Qld Clinical Update. I often come home from conferences feeling reinvigorated and inspired, but I never...
A 25-year-old female with an Unusual Ulcer
This case has been inspired by events in the Torres Straits and details have been changed to ensure patient anonymity. History A 25-year-old female presented to the an outer island primary healthcare centre with a non-painful leg ulcer. She didn’t remember having a bite, sting, scratch or injury to...