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Pacific Islander communities were identified by the Queensland Government in 2008/09 as one priority group that government departments should specifically consider in their work. A project has begun to determine the priority health needs of four Pacific Islander and Maori communities and to work together to identify ways to best address these.
Hanamenn Hunt and Marina Chand are working together with bilingual community workers from the Maori, Papua New Guinean, Samoan, Fijian and Fiji-Indian communities:
Ms Mary Wellington – PNG community (Cairns)
Mr Thomas Polume – PNG community
Mr Gary Hook – Maori community
Mr Felise Tautalasoo [Lemalu] – Samoan community
Ms Laisa Barton – Fijian community
Ms Indra Birbal – Fiji-Indian community
Together they will run discussion groups with community members and leaders to determine the health needs, and to begin to devise strategies to address priority health issues in each community.
An advisory group has been established to oversee the project. The project is expected to be completed by November 2009. A project summary and demographic and health information about Pacific Islander communities in Queensland is available.
For further information, please contact Marina Chand (Multicultural@health.qld.gov.au)
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