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Funding now available to support Indigenous Far North Queenslanders make healthier choices

Published 19 March 2021

Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) is now inviting proposals for the provision of health promotion and chronic disease prevention initiatives to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands to improve long-term health outcomes.

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The proposed initiatives should promote positive lifestyle behaviours that contribute to overall wellbeing, target risky behaviour, and/or create supportive environments that assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take control of their health and minimise their risk of chronic disease.

Health promotion and prevention initiatives should aim to embed positive community attitudes and behaviour and provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in the region with an improved health literacy level to support them to make healthier choices.

Furthermore, proposals should consider multi-faceted health promotion approaches that encourage positive change across healthy public policy, supportive community environments, community development and action, health education, and reorienting health services.

Initiatives that use strong collaborative partnerships, service integration, and that mobilise existing resources will be favourably considered.

The need for health promotion and chronic disease prevention initiatives for First Nations residents in Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands was identified through NQPHN’s Health Needs Assessment (HNA).

NQPHN Chief Executive Officer Robin Whyte said that NQPHN is aiming to commission culturally safe services that empower First Nations people with knowledge in how to look after their health to lower the chances of developing chronic disease.

“NQPHN is committed to closing the gap in health outcomes between non-Indigenous and First Nations people,” said Ms Whyte.

“This tender provides opportunities for providers to support the modification of risk factors that contribute to chronic disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) region.

“The NQPHN HNA highlights cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and chronic respiratory disease among the top contributors to the overall burden of disease in the TCHHS catchment.

“These chronic conditions are largely preventable and may be attributed to lifestyle risk factors such as obesity, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations nationally having a higher prevalence of these behaviours compared with non-Indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations consider good health as more than just the absence of disease and illness, and encompasses social, physical, emotional, cultural, spiritual, and ecological elements.

“We are looking for tender proposals that incorporate a holistic approach to health with demonstrable understanding and application of culturally appropriate and safe practices.

“Proposed initiatives should be tailored to the communities in which they are to be carried out, with an explanation of how communities have been, and how they will continue to be, involved throughout project delivery.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the successful applicant/s to help First Nations residents in Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands to live happier, healthier, longer lives.”

The geographical scope of the procurement is for the TCHHS catchment, with services providing benefits exclusively or predominantly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in Cape York and/or Torres Strait.

Applicants interested in applying for the tender should visit NQPHN’s online procurement portal at www.nqphn.com.au/commissioning/etenderbox

The tender closing date is 19 April 2021 at 2pm.

Last updated: 19 March 2021