A new project, led by Indigenous community leaders along with researchers from the University of Queensland, seeks to link the disparate health records of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples between institutions health care to improve maternal and perinatal health outcomes.
The First Nations Digital Infrastructure to Improve Maternal and Child Health (DIFFERENCE) project has been awarded A$3 million in funding from the federal government’s Health Research Futures Fund.
This is a partnership between UQ, Urban Indigenous Health Institute, Women’s Health, Metro North Hospital and Health Services, CSIRO, Network Infrastructure Queensland and Queensland University of Technology.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
According to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, for every 100,000 Australian women giving birth in the past decade, 17.5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have died. This rate is higher than is the case for non-Indigenous women (5.5 per 100,000 women).
Between 2015-2019, about 600 Indigenous children aged 0-4 died, mostly infants. The child mortality rate during that period was twice as high for Indigenous children as for non-Indigenous children.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 infants born to indigenous mothers died in the perinatal period. The perinatal mortality rate for babies born to Indigenous mothers is 15 per 1,000 births, compared with 9 per 1,000 for babies born to non-Indigenous women.
“These relevant statistics are why we embarked on this project,” said Dr. Clair Sullivan, UQ associate professor and principal investigator of the study.
Dr. Sullivan also notes that it is difficult for medical professionals to access all the information from disconnected medical facilities to make informed decisions.
“We will pioneer the connection of First Nations health data in real time across health services and create a standard that ensures quality and continuity of care for mothers,” she said. and their infants.
For Adrain Carson, CEO of the Urban Indigenous Health Institute, the data-linked project will enhance their ability to deliver birthing services to Indigenous communities, as well as improve the experience. master hospital for mothers and their children.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Another project in the Northern Territory aims to increase the adoption of digital health technologies in indigenous communities to save patients time and improve outcomes. Here The three-year project, led by NT Health and the Menzies School of Health Research, will assess how existing and emerging technologies can best be implemented in those remote communities.
