FROM the coronavirus pandemic's outset Ballarat Indigenous health leaders took a strong proactive awareness stance that continues buck a national trend.
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New figures released on Thursday show the rate of severe disease and death from COVID-19 has been seven times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples than Australians overall.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's biennial health report card also revealed Indigenous health checks had calls for more reporting and scrutiny in reasons behind the soaring COVID-19 cases compared to the general population.
At the Ballarat Showgrounds for NAIDOC celebrations on Wednesday, free rapid antigen test kits given away to community were all but exhausted.
Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative medical practice manager Paul Kochskamper said the region's Indigenous community had been accepting of COVID-19 preventative measures since the pandemic started.
BADAC has delivered 2141 COVID-19 vaccination and boasts one of the state's highest jab rates for Indigenous peoples.
Mr Kochskamper said simplified health messaging, working closely with Aboriginal community and elders and taking a proactive care approach all along had been important in keeping the region's Indigenous peoples safe.
BADAC has long seized the change to share COVID-19 prevention information with community members who visited the medical clinics for regular check-ups - including promoting ongoing health checks.
Mr Kochskamper said work was far from over. The clinic's NAIDOC stall was a chance to highlight the importance of COVID-19 winter boosters and influenza vaccinations.
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BADAC is also working closely with community partners, such as Ballarat Miners, on ways to better reach Indigenous youth for ways to stay safe. The medical clinic also now has a duty nurse on call to help manage COVID-19 jab questions.
"Everyone's adhering to messaging - hand sanitising, face masks - and everyone is proactively caring for each other," Mr Kochskamper said.
"...We want to keep highlighting the important f vaccinations not only for COVID-19 but influenza as well showing it allows youth and adults to keep playing sport. This is important for their well-being and social connections."
Other key findings in the AIHW health report care reveal 67 per cent of Australian adults were overweight or obese in 2017/18. This figure was up 57 per cent since 1995.
Hospitalisation numbers have increased 3.3 per cent on average each year in five years to 2018/19 but Australians were, on average, living longer.
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