Health Issues of Central Australian Indigenous Males

Central Australian Indigenous males have met in various fora over the past 2 - 3 years to discuss male health issues and determine ways of addressing them. The meetings were organised by a variety of organisations, and a broad selection of the Indigenous male population of Central Australia attended.

Many male health issues were discussed at each of these meetings. When looking back over the minutes of the meetings there were five issues that kept coming up:

Aboriginal Men's Health Workshop, 24-26 March 1997, Red Centre Resort, Alice Springs Aboriginal Men's Health Council Meeting, 20-22August 1997, Red Centre Resort, Alice Springs 1st Indigenous Initiated Men's Health Meeting, Kulpitjata Homeland, 26&27 May 1998 Aboriginal Men's Health Workshop (Congress), 17-18 July 1997 Aboriginal Male Health Worker's Workshop, Alice Springs, October 1998
Men's centres in communities, a place to deal with health issues like alcohol and family violence Men's cultural centres and men's cultural programs - programs to foster strong links between Aboriginal men and younger males   Men's shelter - men's cultural centre to deal with all aspects of men's health including violence and alcohol Men's "place" or Men's centre where men could access appropriate health services
Well men's screening, full checkup once per year Annual Well Men's Checkup and Screening   Early detection - screening, well men's check  
Need 2 male Aboriginal Health Workers from each moiety in clinic   Trained Aboriginal Health Workers and male Community Health Workers from both moieties   Clinic staffed with a full time male registered nurse and two male Aboriginal health workers
Intervention in male health - seperate clinic rooms for men and women All male setting for treating men's health problems - separate facilities for men and women including entrances   Men will rarely use clinic - seem as women's and children's place because of female staff  
Cooking classes for men, nutrition needs to be explained more for men Healthy nutrition program for men - strategies that promote healthy nutrition, regular exercise   Nutrition Education, community vegetable garden  

From this we have concluded that the issues that need to be addressed to help improve Indigenous male health in Central Australia are related to:

  1. Appropriate health facilities for males
  2. Male cultural/health places/centres in communities
  3. Annual well males' checkups
  4. Strategies to improve the retention of trained male Aboriginal health workers
  5. Nutrition education for community males
 

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