Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation: Improving Indigenous Communities’ Health And Quality Of Life

History and Background Information

Discuss about the Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation.

Australia is a diver nation made up of people from different racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. As a nation, Australia has not achieved the universal standards of health equity and equality. There is a disparity in healthcare services especially between the underprivileged indigenous and the privileged non-indigenous communities.  The desire to bridge the disparity necessitated the establishment of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organizations (NACCHOs). Currently, there are over 150 NACCHOs in different parts of the country. These organizations have made tremendous contributions in improving the health and quality of life of the indigenous communities. One such organization is Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation whose existence has immensely transformed the lives of the Barkley and Tenant Creek-based Aboriginals. 

Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation is an organization that was established in 1984, as Anyinginyi Congress Aboriginal Corporation. This was done following the institution of the NACCHOs in 1974 and the eventual establishment of the founding Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) in 1971. The founders of the organization realized that the Aboriginal communities living in Barkley and Tenant Creek were facing numerous socio-economic challenges that needed to be addressed (Shepherd, Adams, McEntyre & Walker, 2014). In this regard, its aim was to help in providing quality primary healthcare services to the community members. Since its establishment, the organization has undergone lots of changes. In 2003, the organization changed its name to Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation. In 2009, the management of the organization passed a vote to expand its scope and geographical coverage (Panaretto, Wenitong, Button & Ring, 2014). Later, in 2010, it opened a new Health Center before it was crowned as the only primary health care provider in the expansive Barkly region. Today, the organization is instrumental because it offers a wide range of services to the target Aboriginal communities. In 2009, the management of the organization passed a vote to expand its scope and geographical coverage.

Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation is a NACCHO entity which was established with the aim of uplifting the quality of life of the Aboriginal communities. Its vision statement is ‘to be a key player in successfully “closing the gap” in the health status of Indigenous persons in the Barkly region.’ The founders of the organization realized that the indigenous communities were living in a poor state of health. Therefore, there was a need to come up with an organization with clearly-defined objectives (Panaretto, Wenitong, Button & Ring, 2014).

Vision and Objectives of Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation

The first objective is to provide scientifically-grounded sound primary healthcare services to the target Aboriginal communities. It would help in narrowing the gap that existed in the health accessibility of the indigenous communities. Secondly, the organization is committed to providing a culturally-responsive healthcare service to the indigenous communities. Moreover, the organization is committed to provide community-controlled healthcare services. Meaning, it has to fully-rely on the healthcare providers from the indigenous communities to attend to the patients (Donato & Segal, 2013). Lastly, the organization has an objective of uplifting the living standards of the indigenous communities by addressing the socio-economic needs through the provision of educational, and employment opportunities.

Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation offers a wide range of services to the indigenous residents of Barkley and Tenant Creek. Since it expanded the scope of its operations, the organization has created many departments each of which is concerned with services such primary healthcare, educational, recreation, administration, well-being, and empowerment services (Shepherd, Adams, McEntyre & Walker, 2014). Currently, the organization has rolled-out a number of programs because it considers them as the propriety areas to tackle.  

First and foremost, the organization offers primary clinical care services to the indigenous communities. It offers evidence-based community controlled healthcare services to its clients. Here, people are given medications, emergency services, management strategies and high standard treatments for the illnesses they are suffering from (McDermott, Schmidt, Preece, Owens, Taylor & Esterman, 2015). Besides, the organization has been engaged in the delivery of preventive care and population health services. These entail a wide range of services such as communicable disease control, screening, diagnosis, antenatal care, immunization, comprehensive health information system, and pharmaceutical supply system. At the same time, people have been provided with educational services to help in addressing the cases of lifestyle, alcoholism, drug abuse, physical exercises, hygiene, and environmental health (Gubhaju, et al., 2013).

In addition, the organization offers clinical support system services to the indigenous community members. Here, the local community members are adequately trained on modern care, recruited, and given an opportunity to serve their people and participate in the major decision-making processes. At the same time, the employees are motivated by providing them with favorable working environment, proper remuneration, housing facilities, and advancement opportunities. This is a good strategy that has succeeded in empowering the local community members (Brown, O’Shea, Mott, McBride, Lawson & Jennings, 2015). Inclusion in the provision of care services to their community members has been applauded because it helps in accomplishing the objective of providing culturally-responsive care to the indigenous communities (Baba, Brolan & Hill, 2014). Addressing the needs of the indigenous communities does not only entail healthcare provision, but the meeting of socio-economic needs as well.  

The Health Services Provided by Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation

Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation is a NACCHO, a community-controlled organization exclusively instituted to serve the local community members within its area of jurisdiction. Its membership therefore only includes the Aboriginal communities living in Tennant Creek and the Barkly (Mitrou, et al., 2014). This is a 100 km radius area inhibited by the indigenous people who rely on its community-managed quality and culturally-responsive services.

As already hinted, Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation is a community-controlled organization whose services are restricted to Barkly and Tenant Creek regions. These are the only places in which the organization is found. However, its head quarters are located along Irvine Street in Tenant Creek. In case of any communication, correspondence can be made to this address: 1 Irvine St, Tennant Creek NT 0860, Australia. Meanwhile, the telephone number used by the organization is +61889622633.

Given the significant contributions of Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation in the society, it would be so unfair to rank the organization as inefficient. So far, the organization is a success. It has made tremendous contributions in the lives of the Aboriginal communities in Barkly and Tenant Creek. Apart from providing responsive healthcare services, the organization has done a great job in empowering the indigenous communities and improving the quality of their lives (Russell, 2013). It has done this by recognizing the Aboriginals as a disadvantaged community that deserves to be educated, employed, given quality healthcare services, and involved in the management of their healthcare services.  

Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation was established to promote equality between the indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Although it has achieved most of its objectives, the organization still faces numerous challenges that need to be addressed. Most importantly, it is underfunded. The organization offers so many services which require a lot of money to efficiently support. The nature of services and geographical area covered implies that the organization should have enough money. However, this has not been the case because of limited resources. It has not been practically possible to lobby for enough resources to cater for all the services provided to the remote, rural, and urban-based aboriginals (Gajjar, Zwi, Hill & Shannon, 2014).            

Conclusion

Australia is a modern and developed nation in which there should be no disparities. The existing situation is worrying because healthcare services are closely-linked to racism. This justifies why it is not equally accessed by the indigenous communities as compared to their non-indigenous counterparts. Such a situation can be ultimately resolved if community-controlled organizations are established, supported, and objectively and transparently operated the way the management of Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation has done. It is the way to go.

References

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Brown, A., O’Shea, R.L., Mott, K., McBride, K.F., Lawson, T. & Jennings, G.L., (2015). A strategy for translating evidence into policy and practice to close the gap-developing essential service standards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cardiovascular care.

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Donato, R. & Segal, L., (2013). Does Australia have the appropriate health reform agenda to close the gap in Indigenous health?. Australian Health Review, 37(2), pp.232-238.

Gajjar, D., Zwi, A.B., Hill, P.S. & Shannon, C., (2014). A case study in the use of evidence in a changing political context: an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service re- examines practice models, governance and financing. Australian Health Review, 38(4),pp.383-386.

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McDermott, R.A., Schmidt, B., Preece, C., Owens, V., Taylor, S., Li, M. & Esterman, A.,

(2015). Community health workers improve diabetes care in remote Australian Indigenous communities: results of a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC health services research, 15(1), p.1. 

Mitrou, F., et al., (2014). Gaps in Indigenous disadvantage not closing: a census cohort study of social determinants of health in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand from 1981–2006.

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Panaretto, K. S., Wenitong, M., Button, S., & Ring, I. T. (2014). Aboriginal community controlled health services: leading the way in primary care. Med J Aust, 200(11), 649-52.

Russell, L.M. (2013). Reports indicate that changes are needed to close the gap for Indigenous health. Med J Aust, 199(11), pp.1-2.

Shepherd, S. M., Adams, Y., McEntyre, E., & Walker, R. (2014). Violence risk assessment in Australian Aboriginal offender populations: A review of the literature. Psychology,

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