Open AccessASSESSMENT OF ABORIGINAL HEALTH SERVICES
Author(s) -
Copeman R.C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1988.tb00584.x
Subject(s) - vanguard , sanitation , community health , health care , nursing , public relations , political science , business , medicine , economic growth , geography , public health , archaeology , pathology , law , economics
The relationship of primary health care (PHC) to the community is currently a topic of interest in Australia. One model of community‐based PHC is that of the Aboriginal community‐controlled health services (AHSs). Although committed to providing basic medical services to their communities, the AHSs have a broader view of health and its determinants. Obtaining adequate food, housing, sanitation and water supply, legal services, employment, training and land rights are seen as vitally important to health. From their very beginnings, the Aboriginal communities have been involved in the running of the AHSs. Conversely, the AHSs have been involved in the community in three ways. Firstly, AHSs have played a vanguard role in many communities, facilitating the development of other community services and initiatives. Secondly, AHSs have identified and defined the root causes of health problems and developed community responses to those causes. Thirdly, the orientation of the services and their staff towards the community and its culture has meant that the individual patient care provided is attuned to the needs of both the individual and the community. This paper illustrates these points by reviewing the literature and using descriptive evidence from Aboriginal communities in eastern Australia.