Aboriginal involvement in caring-for-country: an economic case study in primary preventative health.
OBJECTIVE
Firstly, to demonstrate the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country as a case study of how appropriately targeted non-medical primary preventative health strategies can be a cost-effective approach to addressing chronic disease among Indigenous people. Secondly, to demonstrate the use of an analogous approach in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic.


METHODS
A review of prior biomedical and economic research based on the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country is used to: (a) exemplifying the cost effectiveness of a non-medical preventative health intervention; and (b) the process by which such an approach might be applied across a broader context.


RESULTS
The presented results demonstrate one non-medical primary preventative health approach to addressing the health burden affecting Indigenous peoples.


CONCLUSIONS
The suggested steps in optimising the cost effectiveness of such an approach demonstrate how it could be applied in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic.
Centre for Remote Health, Alice Springs, Flinders University, Alice Springs, NT, Australia d.campbell@flinders.edu.au.
David
D
Campbell
D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D060909:Economics, Behavioral; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D011584:Psychology
Indigenous; chronic disease pandemic; government failure; preventative health; psychosocial stressors