A community-based program to reduce acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in northern Australia.
Vicki KerriganAngela KellyAnne Marie LeeValerina MungatopiAlice G MitchellRosemary WyberAnna P RalphPublished in: BMC health services research (2021)
This is the first multi-site effort in northern Australia to strengthen primordial and primary prevention of RHD. Community-led programs are central to the overarching strategy to eliminate RHD. Future implementation should support culturally safe relationships which build the social capital required to address social determinants of health and enable holistic ways to support sustainable individual and community-level actions. Government and services must collaborate with communities to address systemic, structural issues limiting the capacity of Aboriginal peoples to eliminate RHD.