Global Public Health

Globally, over 370 million Indigenous people represent over 5000 distinct cultures, each with rich traditions, unique knowledge systems, and enduring ties to their lands and waters. Social and cultural determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ (i.e. Nations/communities) health and wellbeing are inherently tied to self-determination, sovereignty, place-based knowledge systems, and cultural continuity as well as ongoing structural and systemic racism, sexism, colonization, and racialized capitalism. Health disparities between Indigenous Peoples and settler populations are well-established in many countries, but frequently masked. Similarly, published research about Indigenous health and wellbeing has largely been written from a deficit-based lens (e.g. framing Indigenous Peoples as vulnerable), commonly decontextualizing Indigenous health and wellbeing and highlighting the need for health justice.

This issue is dedicated to papers that align with principles of Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination, sovereignty, and justice, centering Indigenous peoples and communities in place-based understandings, practices, and evidence of health and wellness. Papers about research that honour Indigenous knowledges and knowledge systems and respect community strengths, leadership, and truths are welcomed. Specifically, submissions that detail: (a) author and research team self-location and relationships with(in) the Indigenous community(ies) involved in the research; (b) how Indigenous leadership and engagement was embedded in the research; (c) governance considerations with(in) the Indigenous community(ies); (d) priority development and whose priorities are reflected in the research; (e) how Indigenous communities benefitted from the research, and (f) ethical considerations.

Indigenous public health research includes topics of collective wellbeing in relation to social, environmental, and population health; policies, protocols, and practices; and governance and sovereignty.

Melody Morton Ninomiya is a bi-cultural (Japanese and Swiss-German Mennonite) researcher in the Health Sciences Department of the Faculty of Science. Most of her research is initiated and driven by First Nations in parts of Canada – related to community mental wellness, health and wellness asset mapping, and/or mental health, addictions, and healthy pregnancies. She also conducts research in the area of knowledge translation and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention, education, and supports. She is invested in learning, practicing, teaching, and promoting ways of conducting research that address human rights to wellbeing and self-determination.

Institutional website: https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-science/faculty-profiles/melody-morton-ninomiya/index.html 

Dr. Raglan Maddox (Bagumani(Modewa) Clan, Papua New Guinea) leads the commercial Tobacco Free Program at Australian National University. Raglan’s program of research has focused on developing and analyzing population based Indigenous heath information using community driven processes. This research has been generating and returning data to Indigenous communities to help better understand and improve Indigenous health and wellbeing outcomes.

Institutional Page: https://nceph.anu.edu.au/people/academics/associate-professor-raglan-maddox

Neither Dr. Morton Ninomiya nor Dr. Maddox have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

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