Addressing the knowledge gap of Indigenous public health

Reflections from an Indigenous public health graduate

Bibliographic Data

ID2982003
AuthorsNatasha Lee (0000-0002-8607-1904, The University of Queensland, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume49
Issue2
Pages110-118
Publication date2020-09-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Australian Journal of Indigenous Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1326-0111 • E-ISSN: 2049-7784
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/jie.2020.15
OpenAlexW3084188408
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited31

The current agenda in public health training in higher education works to produce well-trained public health professionals. Operating within a western pedagogical framework it aims to build a cohort of critical and analytical thinkers, skilful problem solvers and extraordinary communicators across key disciplines in health. Many graduates possess interdisciplinary specialities, skills and knowledge transferable within health and other sectors. Core competencies in the curricula, which notably does not currently include Indigenous health, are considered the foundational platform of theory and practical understandings of public health and the health system. Despite a framework that aims to produce health professionals capable of improving the health of the population as a whole; the lack of engagement with an Indigenous health criticality maintains a longstanding Australian public health tradition of failure when it comes to addressing the health disparities experienced by Indigenous people. As a recent Indigenous public health graduate with practical training and experience working in the public health system, I consider possibilities for decolonising the curricula through an Indigenist approach to health, including theories of transformative learning which could strengthen public health practice and in turn facilitate the changes necessary to improving Indigenous health outcomes

Curriculum · Health education · Health equity · Health promotion · HRHIS · Indigenous · International health · Pedagogy · Political science · Population health · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Transformative learning · Cultural Competency in Health Care · Global Health Workforce Issues · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Medicine · Nursing · Health Policy

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