Closing The Gap
'Healthy Mob, Strong Communities'
The ‘Strong Mob’ project is a Hunter Primary Care initiative, funded by Department of Health, Indigenous Australians Health Programme (IAHP) Emerging Priorities grant.
The project is a social media health/awareness campaign created by young Aboriginal people for young Aboriginal people. The focus is to support ‘Closing the Gap’ initiatives and address the inequities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes and non-Indigenous Australians. The campaign features a series of videos and posters of four key Aboriginal influencers, Kobie Dee, BIRDZ, Naomi Wenitong and Dr Joel Wenitong (The Last Kinection), who are well-established in the Australian Aboriginal hip-hop music scene. These influencers share their personal stories in regard to the importance of their health and wellbeing, their connection to country, culture and community. The Strong Mob campaign will launch across social media sites Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube to coincide with NAIDOC Week in 2021.
The Indigenous Australians’ Health Program (IAHP) has identified that the 715 health check is important in early detection/treatment of disease. The awareness and focus on the 715 health check in the campaign is vital in order to have better health outcomes for Aboriginal communities.
Our strategy to create an Aboriginal youth-led health awareness campaign, aligns directly with recent research into social media usage in Indigenous communities. Recent research indicates that age is directly associated with social media use for health, with younger groups being reportedly more receptive to using social media, particularly in relation to their health and wellbeing.
Outcomes of the campaign will aim to increase the numbers of Aboriginal children/youth groups presenting for annual 715 health checks, children from 18% to 46% and youth from 17% to 42%, by 2023.
The Project Team is excited to be working in health awareness and promotion, to contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of the communities that we serve.
Yantiin Kalabara is an Aboriginal phrase that means - Everyone Shining Bright. The program is a workshop based model delivered through regional primary schools with a large percentage of Indigenous enrolments. Aimed at educating young people in regional areas to make healthy living choices, the workshops involve a number of interactive stations that provides information about positive health impacts. The series of “Pit Stop stations” are 20-minute presentations and interactive engagements with local health providers in an effort to ‘Close the Gap’ to create better health awareness for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. The hands-on sessions will be directed at healthy thinking that includes eating habits, increased physical activity and decreased screen time.
Staff members, Kate Wood, Dietitian (pictured above) and Ryan Bender, Exercise Physiologist, have designed the pit-stop stations and will be delivering the program in five schools across the Hunter in March 2021. Watch the videos below for more information.
