The launch of the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan by the Commonwealth Government last week is a positive start but needs to go further to achieve real impact for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

Dr. Julieann Coombes, Research Fellow in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health says the lack of transparency in implementation, inadequate community consultation, and delivery timelines have long been highlighted as key barriers to addressing system-wide inequity in Australia

“To address these barriers and support the Close the Gap Agreement, it is crucial the Commonwealth Government urgently releases committed funding,” Dr. Coombes said.

“While we welcome the intention of the Implementation Plan is to take a whole-of-government approach, the $1 billion commitment across 10 years does not go far enough, quick enough to close the gap. Certain commitments – such as the commitment to provide an additional $254.4 million towards infrastructure for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations – is heartening, but given the COVID-19 pandemic, this funding over 10 years will not be enough and needs to go further to support the work these essential services provide is the short-term.

Beyond funding commitments, it is crucial that First Nations people of Australia have the voice, opportunity and the resources to self-determine their community priorities and outcomes. A Makarata Commission, as part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, is central to this process, but is once again denied.

“The ramifications for not redressing the past prevents reconciliation and will continue to impact future generations of First Nations children.

Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future – Uluru Statement from the Heart

“The rate of increase in out-of-home care cases means the current closing the gap targets will not be met by 2031 and a whole generation will have passed. While annual reporting will provide a clearer picture of out-of-home care cases, it does not address children being removed from their families. Action is urgently needed to reduce cases of out-of-home care as a priority.

“While the Implementation Plan includes significant investments into the preservation of language, additional funding and resources need to be targeted to support and strengthen families and communities sooner rather than later, where cultural practices of language and lore are passed to our children. This will in turn strengthen the social and cultural determinants of health and wellbeing, providing hope for First Nations peoples’ future,” Dr. Coombs said.

To read more about the Closing the Gap indicators and targets, click here to read commentary by our Distinguished Fellow and CEO of the Lowitja Institute, Dr. Janine Mohamed.

The George Institute for Global Health has developed a special podcast series with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. The podcast features conversations with systems thinking experts from around the world and draws on their experience so listeners can learn how using systems thinking can strengthen health systems.

The podcast series, Seeing the full picture, is co-hosted by Dr Devaki Nambiar and Professor Stephen Jan.

In describing the series, Devaki said, "About a decade and a half ago, as some of the literature on systems thinking and health policy and systems research was coming out, my interest was piqued. I became very interested in trying to explore this. This podcast is, I suppose in a way, Stephen’s and my journey through trying to understand this for ourselves and with people who’ve done more thinking in this space."

In the series, the co-hosts reflect on key issues and major developments in systems thinking for health systems strengthening, and interview key thought leaders in the field. There are five episodes in the series:

• Episode 1 – Alliance foundations in systems thinking: Why then, what now?
• Episode 2 – Background to systems thinking
• Episode 3 – The science -and art - of systems thinking in health
• Episode 4 – Low and middle-income country experiences in systems thinking
• Episode 5 –  Systems thinking: political and policy challenges

Each episode is approximately 45 minutes, to enable in-depth conversations around key topics.

This series aims to inspire listeners to consider the relevance of these approaches in their work, and that listeners will go on to be part of a new generation of practitioners and researchers advocating for the importance of systems thinking in strengthening health systems globally.

The George Institute for Global Health's Associate Professor Dr Sanne Peters – whose research focuses on sex differences in chronic diseases – has been awarded a prestigious Vidi fellowship, part of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Talent  Programme.

The 78 fellows, all experienced postdoctoral researchers, are each supported through a grant worth 800,000 euros over a 5-year period. NWO’s Talent Programme selects researchers based on quality, innovation, and the expected impact of their proposed research. The Vidi grant supports researchers to pursue an innovative line of enquiry and to establish their own research group.

Dr Peters will build on her research with The George Institute that identifies sex differences in coronary heart disease risk factors. During the fellowship, she aims to determine whether sex differences in biological factors or differences in health care practice explain why these exist.

Dr Peters commented:

I am honoured to be a Vidi laureate. This grant will support my research that aims to explain sex differences in heart disease risk factors and draw out implications for clinical practice. The grant will enable me to recruit two PhD students, who will be employing advanced statistical methods in complex databases to find explanations, biological or otherwise, and translate these into policy and practice.

Find out more about Dr Peters' work here.