Aboriginal involvement in caring-for-country: an economic case study in primary preventative health.

Abstract

Firstly, to demonstrate the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country as a case study of how appropriately targeted non-medical primary preventative health strategies can be a cost-effective approach to addressing chronic disease among Indigenous people. Secondly, to demonstrate the use of an analogous approach in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic. A review of prior biomedical and economic research based on the involvement of Aboriginal people in caring-for-country is used to: (a) exemplifying the cost effectiveness of a non-medical preventative health intervention; and (b) the process by which such an approach might be applied across a broader context. The presented results demonstrate one non-medical primary preventative health approach to addressing the health burden affecting Indigenous peoples. The suggested steps in optimising the cost effectiveness of such an approach demonstrate how it could be applied in addressing the global chronic disease pandemic.