Centrelink: an innovative urban intervention for improving adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access to vaccination

Thomsen, Rosie, Smyth, Wendy, Gardner, Anne, and Ketchell, Jennifer (2012) Centrelink: an innovative urban intervention for improving adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access to vaccination. Healthcare Infection, 17 (4). pp. 136-141.

[img] PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/HI12035
 
1
3


Abstract

Objective: To report the effectiveness of a targeted vaccine intervention conducted using opportunistic, non-traditional clinic settings to extend coverage to urban adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Methods: A retrospective clinical audit of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease and Influenza vaccine coverage during 2004–2009, with case study comparison of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients vaccinated at five clinic settings in 2008.

Results: From 2005, when Centrelink was first included as a vaccination clinic site, until 2009, attendance there more than doubled (159 to 441), with a 3-fold increase in vaccines administered (204 to 667). An increasing proportion of clients have been vaccinated each year at the Centrelink site, compared with decreasing average attendance in all other opportunistic sites.

Discussion: Centrelink was an effective opportunistic site for vaccinating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in an urban catchment area, in particular successfully targeting younger adults. The strategy was later replicated when administering H1N1 vaccines.

Implications: This innovative strategy is potentially transferable to a wide range of public health inventions urgently needed to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other hard-to-reach potentially disadvantaged groups.

Item ID: 30860
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1835-5625
Date Deposited: 04 Feb 2014 06:01
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111701 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9203 Indigenous Health > 920399 Indigenous Health not elsewhere classified @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 3
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page