→ Townsville Aboriginal & Islander Health Service, QLD

A major change in the way health care is provided to pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Townsville is helping to turn around health outcomes for babies and infants.

Long waiting times and an historically unwelcoming hospital environment had kept many Indigenous women from using mainstream health services during their pregnancy, according to Dr Kathryn Panaretto, Senior Medical Officer with the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS).

“We wanted to create an environment where women felt comfortable, where they were treated as people and where they could bring children along,” she said.

With pilot funding from the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation and the Ian Potter Foundation, TAIHS established the Mums and Babies program in 2000 – a morning clinic for pregnant women and young mothers, initially staffed by two female doctors, two health workers, a child care worker and a driver.

The popularity of the program was immediate. In the first month of operation, the clinic saw 40 clients. A year later the number had grown to 500 clients each month. Five years later on – and now in a purpose-built family friendly centre – the number of clients continues to grow steadily.

"We’re seeing more pregnant women, we’re seeing them earlier in their pregnancy and we’re seeing them more regularly," says Dr Panaretto. "Having this sort of consistency means you can build a relationship with the women and talk with them about issues like smoking, alcohol and healthy eating."

According to the Australian Medical Association, Indigenous babies are more than twice as likely to be born premature or underweight as non-Indigenous babies, placing them at higher risk of developing chronic illness such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes later in life.

The major contributing factors to low birth weight babies include smoking, alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases and malnutrition in the mother.

However, since 2000 the health outcomes for Indigenous babies and infants in Townsville have improved markedly. There has been a reduction in low birth weight babies from 16 per cent to 11.7 per cent; mean birth weights have increased by 170 grams; and perinatal deaths have fallen from 58 per thousand to 22 per thousand.

Word of mouth about the Mums and Babies program has been so positive that now one third of all women using the service come from outside of Townsville, says Melvina Mitchell, the acting Program Coordinator.

“We recently had a customer satisfaction survey and the feedback was all positive – the women told us they feel really comfortable coming here, and the kids have a great time too. We’re even seeing fathers bringing their kids in too,” she said.

According to Melvina, the attitude and commitment of the staff is the major reason why the program works so well. “The people who use the service like the fact that most of the staff here are Indigenous and they like seeing the same faces when they come in,” she said.

A number of ancillary services have been established to support mothers and young children, including programs to encourage breastfeeding, provide nutrition support, increase immunisation rates and monitor healthy child development, says Dr Panaretto.

“If you’ve got a good model of health care, then people will feel comfortable coming to see you,” she says. “That really goes to the heart of what we’re doing here – trying to build a culture of using health care among the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.”

Find out more

Townsville Aboriginal & Islander Health Service
Phone: 07 4759 4000
Website: www.taihs.net.au