Guest editors: Maree Toombs, Sandra Creamer, Caitlin Curtis and Claire Brolan
This Special Issue will present the research findings of “Project 37”, an Australian-based interdisciplinary research project that examined advancing non-discriminatory, rights-based access to health services of, for and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia’s second-largest state of Queensland. Led by Kamilaroi and Kooma woman, Professor Maree Toombs, and funded by the Australian Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (grant ref: 2004327), the research is grounded in section 37(1) of Queensland’s new Human Rights Act 2019, which states that “every person has the right to access health services without discrimination”. Mindful that Australia is one of the only liberal democracies in the world without a federal Human Rights Act, Bill of Rights, comprehensive Constitutional protection of rights, or equivalent instruments, the implementation of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) is an extraordinary development for progressing health rights in Australia. Unlike equivalent human rights law found in the state and territory of Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory respectively, this is the first subnational body of human rights law to introduce the right to health into ‘hard law’ in the country.
The Special Issue will report on a comprehensive qualitative investigation (“yarning”) into the health service access and equity challenges, enablers, and opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as quantitative findings with respect to Queensland public hospital access and utilisation for the purposes of providing healthcare to treat chronic diseases among Indigenous communities. The collection will provide recommendations from community on ways to generate accountable and transparent governance practices to advance non-discriminatory access to health services within and beyond the healthcare system. This will include a ‘futures’ perspective on rights-based, ethical deployment of genomics in healthcare led by Indigenous Australians.
Papers have been selected based on scientific merit. This collection of manuscripts has not been sponsored and will undergo the Journal’s standard peer review process.
The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.
Submissions should be made in .DOC, .DOCX or RTF format, double-spaced and styled according to IJEqH’s guidelines, available here: https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines/preparing-your-manuscript