Improving Aboriginal food security and diet

Funding

Status completed

Start Date

End Date

Introduction

This project was implemented in two phases across two Aboriginal communities. The first phase focused on improving food security and nutrition among Aboriginal communities in remote areas including in Mai Wiru stores on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. The second phase centred around issues of food security and nutrition among urban Aboriginal communities, facilitated through the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH).

About

Improving Aboriginal food security and dietary intake: Approaches for remote and urban communities

Project title

What is the issue?

Poor diet is a major contributor to the high levels of mortality and morbidity experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience significant diet-related health inequities, such as higher rates of overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and infant malnutrition. More than 80% of this excess burden of chronic disease is preventable, with the largest proportion of this attributable to poor diet.

Many complex factors influence food insecurity and nutrition in Aboriginal communities, including distance to healthy food outlets, transport limitations, the high cost of food, ability to cook healthy meals and the time taken to shop and cook healthy food. Previous research at the Prevention Centre has shown that these problems exist both in urban as well as remote communities.

While influences on Aboriginal diet are undoubtedly complex, previous research in remote areas has demonstrated that it is possible to achieve rapid, sustained improvements in objective measures of food security, dietary intake, nutrition status, and other risk factors for chronic disease. However, successful approaches have not been widely translated into practice, and to date, nutrition has not been a focus of policy to address Indigenous disadvantage.

How did the project address the issue?

This project was implemented in two phases. Phase one focused on improving food security and nutrition among Aboriginal communities in remote areas with a focus on Mai Wiru stores in communities on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. The second phase examined issues of food security and nutrition among urban Aboriginal communities, building on Prevention Centre research, and utilising the established research asset of SEARCH (the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health).

What were the outcomes?

The project:

  • Identified barriers and potential areas for whole-of-system interventions to improve food security in urban Aboriginal communities
  • Implemented and evaluated the impact of interventions to improve food security and dietary intake in five remote Aboriginal communities
  • Developed a food security framework and strategic implementation plan to improve food security among urban and remote Aboriginal groups.

Relevance for practice

This project demonstrated achievable, effective, low-cost, translatable, scalable and sustained ways of improving food security and diet in Aboriginal communities.

Publications

Other publications

2019

2018

Presentations

  • Jacqueline Davison. Prevention through Collaboration: Using systems mapping to inform community-led solutions to food insecurity. Public Health Association of Australia’s Preventive Health Conference 2020. 19 May 2020
  • Muthayya S and Davison J. A systems approach to improving food security among urban Aboriginal communities. Prevention Centre Investigator Forum,  March 2020.
  • Muthayya S and Davison J. A systems approach to improving food security among urban Aboriginal communities. World Congress of Public Health Nutrition (from 30 April 2020).
  • Simone Sherriff presented the project, as part of her Poche Indigenous Leadership Fellowship, to Professor Sir Michael Marmot and Dr Ian Henderson, Director Menzies Australia Institute at King’s College, London, UK. 17 May 2019.
  • Professor Sumithra Muthayya, presented the project at the SEARCH Investigators Forum, included all Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services CEOs participating in the food security work.14 May 2019.

Funding

Funding for this research has been provided from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). The MRFF provides funding to support health and medical research and innovation, with the objective of improving the health and wellbeing of Australians. MRFF funding has been provided to The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre under the MRFF Boosting Preventive Health Research Program. Further information on the MRFF is available at www.health.gov.au/mrff.