The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, a United Nations event commemorated worldwide, is celebrated on 9 August each year. The theme for 2015 is “Post 2015 agenda: Ensuring Indigenous peoples’ health and wellbeing”.
Since 2002, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) have been working together on initiatives to improve Indigenous people’s health. To commemorate this year’s event, contributors from these organizations and Cochrane have prepared a series of Special Collections focusing on health issues relevant to Indigenous people.
The Special Collections, available on the Cochrane Library, focus on available Cochrane evidence in three topic areas, each of which has significant health implications for Indigenous populations: diabetes, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and suicide prevention:
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Two accompanying editorials reflect on the health and societal contexts in which evidence can contribute to informed research and treatment decision-making:
Improving health outcomes for Indigenous peoples: what are the challenges?
Can Cochrane Reviews inform decisions to improve Indigenous people’s health?
Acknowledgements
These Special Collections were prepared with the collaboration and support of the following individuals and organizations:
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health: Malcolm King, Cynthia Stirbys
- Health Research Council (New Zealand) - Māori Health Research: Rachel Brown, Jaylene Wehipeihana
- National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) – Research Policy and Translation: Samantha Faulkner, Davina Ghersi
- Cochrane Centres: Sue Brennan, Sally Green, Steve McDonald, Jordi Pardo Pardo
- The Cochrane Editorial Unit
- Professor Jonathan Craig, Cochrane Kidney and Transplant Group