Latest expert guidance on COVID-19 now published
MEDIA RELEASE – 22 September 2020
Latest expert guidance on COVID-19 now published
Lowitja Institute welcomes the publication of the latest practical advice for primary healthcare teams that are supporting prevention and management of COVID-19 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in urban, rural and remote Australia.
The latest recommendations for the Guidance for healthcare teams to support COVID-19 prevention and management for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are now online.
They are delivered as part of an ongoing collaboration between the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), Lowitja Institute and The Australian National University (ANU).
The collaboration is developing a series of rolling recommendations based on the best available evidence to assist healthcare teams with prevention and management activities in Aboriginal community controlled health services and other primary care settings.
The latest advice relates to:
- What needs to be considered to support someone to meet requirements of isolation and quarantine?
- What social and emotional wellbeing and mental health care/support is needed for health care workers in the context of COVID-19?
- How do health care workers minimise their risk of acquiring infection and of spreading infection between patients while physically examining a patient with respiratory symptoms?
- COVID-19 in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with chronic suppurative lung disease (CSLD) – Guidance for primary care
Lowitja Institute CEO Dr Janine Mohamed said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services, communities and representative organisations are best-placed to ensure a culturally safe and effective response to this pandemic.
“This work fills a critical knowledge gap in clinical advice regarding the prevention of COVID-19 in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” she said.
“We are very pleased to be part of this valuable and productive collaboration.”
Lowitja Institute has also developed an expert database to assist Aboriginal community controlled health services to search for experts who can assist and support their community in preventing and managing infections from COVID-19, or other diseases.
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