The Pharmacy Guild of Australia welcomes the progress highlighted in the Close the Gap Campaign Report 2022 to help improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
National President of the Guild, Trent Twomey says the report shows that during the past year real progress had been made in many areas.
“The report notes that despite the very challenging year we have gone through, the health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are being improved through innovative, community-led solutions,” says Professor Twomey.
“It notes that these are self-determined and localised solutions which address the unique cultural context and intersectional issues that are specific to their target communities.
“This is important to their success and I am proud that community pharmacists often play an important role in helping improve the health and wellbeing of these communities.
“The commitment of these pharmacists to their patients is a major factor in bringing better health services to them.”
Professor Twomey says that across Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities led the way in transforming health and community services, policies and programs.
“The report also notes they achieve this by rebuilding them with culture and country at the centre,” he says.
“These community-led solutions are able to respond effectively to current and future needs in a robust and holistic way, using cultural knowledge and practices to restore the wellbeing of their communities.”
Professor Twomey says that while the report was encouraging, a lot more needs to be done to help meet the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“As a nation, this area has long been neglected and we must all work together to ensure that all Australians have equal opportunity to access first-class health services,” he says.
“The Pharmacy Guild has a long history of commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and we will continue to build on this.”
