Aboriginal health

Victorian Aboriginal Tobacco Control projects

The National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes includes tackling smoking as a priority area.

Under this partnership the Victorian Government committed to:

• reduce the prevalence of smoking among Aboriginal people from 32/8% to 26% by 2013
• reduce the burden of tobacco related chronic diseases within the Aboriginal community
• reduce the number of Aboriginal women smoking during pregnancy.

The majority of the 'tackling smoking' Closing the Gap funding has been allocated to the eight Department of Health regions to finance localised action informed by Regional Closing the Gap Advisory Committees. All regions have submitted plans detailing their activity under this priority area.

Statewide coordination and activity is informed by the Aboriginal Tobacco Control Advisory Group (ATCAG). Major activity to date includes projects focussing on smoking during pregnancy, developing materials and processes to support Aboriginal community controlled health organisations (ACCHOs) to become smoke-free, workforce training, development of social marketing materials, support for smoke-free sporting organisations, cessation support through Quit Victoria, and strengthening the evidence base for interventions.

Initiatives commencing or in progress in 2010/11

Quit Victoria has employed Aboriginal Quitline Officers to provide cessation support. This is being evaluated.

Quit Victoria is supporting football and netball clubs with a significant number of Aboriginal players and links with local communities to go smoke-free.

The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) has employed a statewide tobacco control coordinator. This position coordinates state initiatives with the Commonwealth and provides advice at a local level on risks and issues with program implementation across the state.

The VACCHO action research project that aimed to reduce smoking amongst Aboriginal women during pregnancy will end in 2011. This project has been instrumental in providing an evidence base for future action and in raising the issue of tobacco use in the ACCHOs targeted by the project.

A training package for Aboriginal health workers has been developed by QUIT Victoria and VACCHO. This is currently being delivered across the state.