The Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit
Welcome
Welcome to the MURU MARRI INDIGENOUS HEALTH UNIT'S HOME PAGE. We hope that you find the information contained on this web site useful and interesting.
As part of the 2009 National Day of Action to Close the Gap, we are proud to announce a collaboration by Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver and Sally Fitzpatrick from Muru Marri with Lois Meyer from the SPHCM postgraduate team to produce a short documentary 'Ending Indigenous health inequalities within our lifetime', now available online. This documentary presents the perspectives of a number of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community leaders and health experts from urban and remote Australia who discuss how to approach the currrent health disadvantage faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The DVD is inspired by the recent high-profile Close the Gap campaign for Indigenous health equality, the signing of the Close the Gap Statement of Intent, and the commitment of substantial funds towards this end made recently by the Council of Australian Governments. The DVD is designed to be used as a scenario building tool in either face-to-face and via online workshop delivery and is currently being implemented in group assignment work within the elective PHCM9630 Indigenous Health in Australia. The DVD resource has been funded through a Learning and Teaching Grant won by Lois Meyer and Sophie di Corpo from the university and is part of a larger project they are undertaking in developing scenario based learning strategies within the SPHCM postgraduate programs. For more information please contact Lois Meyer at l.meyer@unsw.edu.au
'Ending Indigenous health inequalities within our lifetime' video [Streamed and Podcast]
Mission Statement:
Guided by local and national community priorities, to contribute to the healing and positive health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through research, teaching, publication, representation on peak national bodies and public advocacy.
Vision Statement:
Muru Marri is an identifiable academic component of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine that is:
- Responsible to the local Aboriginal communities in which it resides and all Indigenous communities in which it may work;
- A culturally safe and inspiring place for people committed to, and working or training in, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health; and
- Culturally and professionally supportive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their work as undergraduate or postgraduate students, teachers, researchers, and/or committee and community members.
The Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit also assists and advises a
special entry program into Medicine. This program is conducted by the
Nura Gili and the
Rural Clinical School and is designed to enable more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to study Medicine. We currently have 15 students enrolled in medicine and 12 graduates.
In consultation with the community-controlled health sector, the unit aims to auspice research and expand the options for post-graduate training in Indigenous health.
For post-graduate students of medicine and the health sciences, Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit delivers a 6UOC course
PHCM9630 Indigenous Health in Australia.
Advocacy
Muru Marri has also been a key player in the creation and maintainance of
scholarships including the
Shalom Gamarada Residential Scholarship program for Indigenous Medical students. 'We walk together as friends', the report of our work with Shalom College, can be found in ANTaR's
Success Stories in Indigenous Health. The Shalom Gamarada program is featured in the
CLOSETHEGAP DVD produced by Oxfam that was screened at over 300 participating sites around Australia in 2007, including
UNSW.
Muru Marri endorses the national
Close the Gap Campaign for Indigenous Health Equality. In 2007, Muru Marri participated in a broad range of on- and off-campus activities, including a public forum on
National Close the Gap Day 2007 hosted by Prof Peter Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Speakers included Elizabeth Harris, Senior Lecturer & Director of the Centre for Health Equity Training Research & Evaluation (CHETRE) at UNSW’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine and Professor Ian Ring, Professorial Fellow at the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Health Service Development and a critical friend of Muru Marri. The event was facilitated by Muru Marri's Director, Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver.
A landmark commitment by the
Council of Australian Governments towards Indigenous Reform was announced on 29 November 2008.
In 2009, the
National Close the Gap Day will be on Thursday, 2 April.
Find out more about the Close the Gap Campaign for Indigenous Health Equality ...
Muru Marri is also part of the steering committee for the Indigenous dental program,
'Filling the Gap', a program where volunteer dentists provide services to patients of Wuchopperen Health Service in Cairns, Far North Queensland. An evaluation of this project is currently underway.
Find out more about how to get involved.
In 2008, Muru Marri and friends celebrated the historic
Motion offering an Apology to the Stolen Generations, delivered by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February. View UNSW Nura Gili staff and students talking about what the National Apology means to them
here.
What has the Apology got to do with Indigenous health and wellbeing? See the Apology - Viewpoint by Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver and Sally Fitzpatrick in the
Medical Journal of Australia. See also ABC Radio's
News in Science here.
Breaking News
Congratulations to Lisa Jackson Pulver who has been promoted to Professor at UNSW!