- Important milestones celebrated by the community of Kintore/Walungurru
- Australia’s 2024 sexual health checkup: common STIs on the rise, HIV declines
- Land, culture, rights and self‐determination: foundations of Indigenous health
- New Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Churchill Fellows to ‘strengthen Culture, Communities and Country’
- Sector Jobs
The NACCHO Sector News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.
We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly.
Important milestones celebrated by the community of Kintore/Walungurru
- 40 years of Pintupi Homelands Health Service
- 20 years of Red Dust Role Models
- 21 years since the first person received dialysis in Kintore through Purple House
See photos of the event on this Facebook ABC Alice Springs’s post.
Watch this Instagram video by chanseypaechmia – Chansey Paech, Member for Gwoja – proud Eastern Arrernte and Gurindji man.
ABC Alice Springs, Photo: Xavier Martin
Australia’s 2024 sexual health checkup: common STIs on the rise, HIV declines
In the past decade, syphilis and gonorrhoea cases in Australia more than doubled, chlamydia diagnoses remain high and HIV diagnoses declined, according to the latest data released by the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney.
The latest national surveillance data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) was released today at the Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference, opens in a new window in Adelaide.
“Sexually transmissible infections can be passed on to others, but in most instances can be easily treated,” says the report’s lead author Dr Skye McGregor, an epidemiologist based at the Kirby Institute and UNSW.
“However, if left untreated sexually transmissible infections can cause serious long-term health concerns like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women,” Dr McGregor says.
“Importantly, people who are pregnant can pass on the infection to their babies causing serious harm.”
She presented the data at the conference today, with the numbers not only highlighting areas of public health concern but where to focus efforts.
The rates of STI infections among First Nations Australians are higher than in non-indigenous Australians.
Kirby Institute
Land, culture, rights and self‐determination: foundations of First Nations health
This issue of the MJA is the second of this year with a specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. It includes three articles that were originally selected by the Guest Editors for the NAIDOC week Special Issue, which was published in July, 2025.
Two of the articles previously selected are research articles: a study by Alasdair Vance and colleagues evaluates Elder‐governed cultural therapy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people with mental health conditions, and Karrina DeMasi and colleagues describe the development of an Aboriginal women‐led maternal and child health model when cardiometabolic complications are experienced in pregnancy. The third article is a perspective from Paul Gray and colleagues that discusses the need to move towards epistemic pluralism, cultural safety, and critical reflexivity in Australian psychology. Together, these articles reflect the depth and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Islander‐led research and community, strength‐based approaches.
Read the full overview and access the articles.
New Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Churchill Fellows to ‘strengthen Culture, Communities and Country’
New Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Churchill Fellows to ‘strengthen Culture, Communities and Country’
Fourteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders have been named Churchill Fellows for 2025. They will travel the world to bring back ideas that strengthen culture, communities, and Country.
Their projects span land management, health, education, justice, fashion, and the art; reflecting the breadth of First Nations leadership across Australia.
Churchill Trust chief executive Christine Dacey said the Churchill Fellows “are everyday people doing extraordinary things”.
“They’re curious, courageous, and deeply committed to their communities,” she said.
“Their projects highlight the vision, expertise, and determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellows working to shape a stronger, more inclusive future for Australia.”
Several Fellows will explore how First Nations knowledge can influence better systems and outcomes. Projects include integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge into acute health care, developing culturally safe bereavement models, repatriation practices, truth-telling in classrooms, and innovative justice diversion programs led by Aboriginal communities.
Among this year’s Fellows, Alicia Veasey, a Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islander) woman and clinician based in regional NSW, will explore how First Nations knowledge can transform acute health care and strengthen outcomes for local communities.
Dr Alicia Veasey.
Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.
Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.
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