Towards better outcomes in indigenous cardiovascular health: directions from the first and second indigenous cardiovascular health care conferences.

摘要

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), in recognition of the tremendous gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand, made a decision some years ago to become actively involved in promoting improvements in Indigenous cardiovascular health. This initiative culminated in the first Indigenous Cardiovascular Health Conference held in Sydney in August 2009 subsequent to the CSANZ Annual Scientific Meeting. The success of this meeting prompted organisation of a second Indigenous cardiovascular health meeting held in Alice Springs in June 2011. Both meetings were notable for a wide-ranging involvement from many in the field of Indigenous cardiovascular health, including researchers, physicians, nurses, and other allied health care workers. The conferences focused on recognition of problems and views to progress solutions. A series of articles summarising the first meeting were subsequently published in Heart, Lung and Circulation and the results of the second conference are now the subject of further publication in Heart, Lung and Circulation.