Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellyreports and events raised the profile of Aboriginal health and well-being andencouraged primary health care and other services to review the ways that theyworked with Aboriginal people. Overshadowing these actions was the PrimeMinister’s refusal to apologise for past and present colonisation practices. Thisbecame a topical point, particularly as the United Nation declared theInternational Decade of the World’s Indigenous People from 1995 – 2004(United Nations 1994).A national move toward shared responsibility and mutual obligationFour significant national programs and frameworks and documents haveguided Aboriginal health policy and health care throughout the 2000s. The firstwas the Aboriginal Primary Health Care Access Program (APHCAP) wasannounced in the 1999-2000 Commonwealth Budget as a program of healthsystem reform using a partnership approach to improve access to, andprovision of, primary health care services for Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander people (Nunkuwarrin Yunti 2008).The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Health, prepared by the National Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Health Council (2004), was released in 2004. This document critiquespast strategies involving independent approaches by individual governmentportfolios, operating without the support and partnership of Aboriginal andTorres Strait communities as being largely unsuccessful and having littleimpact overall. It describes the National Aboriginal Health Strategy released in1989 as a landmark document built on extensive community consultation, thathad never been fully implemented (National Aboriginal Health StrategyWorking Party 1989).The Framework advocated for an approach of shared responsibility, withpartnerships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations,individuals and communities, and government agencies across all levels andsections of government (National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander HealthCouncil 2004). The National Strategic Framework was based on a commitmentto nine principles of; cultural respect, holistic approach, health sectorresponsibility, community control of primary health care services, working78