Background
The Māori & Pacific Islander population are deemed one of Queensland’s most vulnerable population groups. Adults and children of Māori & Pacific Islander descent experience higher rates of chronic disease and obesity, attributable to higher socioeconomic disadvantage, low health literacy, poor health seeking behaviour and limited access to culturally tailored healthcare.
Aim
Good Start to Life, as part of the Good Start Program, aims to deliver culturally tailored education and support to empower mothers, fathers and carers of babies and young children, to adopt healthy nutrition and lifestyle practices during pregnancy and early childhood.
Method
Support is delivered via family homes, playgroups, co-facilitated antenatal classes, day-care and hospital settings, addressing pregnancy, gestational diabetes, infant and toddler health and hospital liaison support. Sessions are delivered by a Multicultural Health Worker of Māori & Pacific Islander descent, tailoring education to cultural values and practices relating to nutrition, healthy food and drinks, physical activity and access to appropriate health services.
Results
In the past 8 months, 25 sessions have been delivered to engage 10 and 15 families across Brisbane and Cairns respectively. Co-designed educational resources instil a strong sense of community empowerment, promoting sustainable service delivery. Improvements have been demonstrated relating to healthy food and drink choices and increased physical activity among participants. The hospital liaison service has provided support to improve blood glucose management and increase health service engagement, among expectant mothers with Gestational Diabetes.
Outcomes
The delivery of culturally tailored support regarding maternal and infant health significantly improves the health and wellbeing of Māori & Pacific Islander families and their young children. Addressing health within the first 1000 days has been found to improve growth, birth outcomes and potential future health risk. Promoting positive health outcomes across the health continuum will significantly tackle health inequity among Queensland’s most vulnerable populations.