A new national campaign called Live Longer! has been launched to tackle chronic disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The campaign is a central part of the Australian Government’s $21.3 million investment over four years to establish and run Local Community Campaigns.

 

“Live Longer! Encourages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to give up smoking, eat healthy food, take regular exercise and have regular medical check-ups – four actions that could help extend the lives of Indigenous people.


The  campaign was developed following completion of a research project commissioned by the Australian Government to gain an in-depth understanding of attitudes and perspectives within Indigenous communities.


The research demonstrated that mainstream health messages designed around ‘warnings’ and ‘consequences’ were not working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It also revealed that it was commonly believed within many communities that chronic disease such as cancer and diabetes were an inevitable consequence for Indigenous Australians and that many high risk behaviours such as smoking are still considered socially acceptable.


The research found that for health promotion to be effective, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need to be the drivers – the storytellers – of health messages for their own communities.

“Live Longer! will involve a  program of tailored community campaigns with messages that respond to the particular concerns and health priorities of communities, as well as being relevant to local culture.

The Live Longer! Campaign was launched at the first of more than 60 Healthy Community Days to be held in urban, regional, rural and remote areas across the nation until June 2012. The Australian Government is providing $14 million in funding for Local Community Campaigns from 2011 – 2013. Phase 1 of the Grants Program commenced in March 2011, with more than 80 organisations invited to apply for funding through a targeted process. Applications for Phase 1 close on 29 April 2011.

 

A new grants program has been developed to enable local organisations to organise healthy living activities for their community. The program will be advertised nationally in May and will be open between June and September. This will be followed by a round aimed at anyone who has a community health plan.

 

Details of the  Live Longer! Campaign and the Healthy Community Days are at http://livelonger.health.gov.au/