‘Empowered’: New project hopes to close this cancer gap
A new research program aims to increase participation in cancer clinical trials among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The initiative seeks to address historical medical trauma and significant health outcome disparities.
Why it matters
Addresses systemic health inequities and aims to improve life-saving treatment access for marginalized populations.
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Share A A A When Amanda Hall’s young granddaughter Aaliyah was diagnosed with cancer, she was given just over two months to live. No clinical trials were available, but clinicians suggested a biopsy.
“I said, Hang on, we’ve got to have a family discussion,” Hall said. “I rang my parents up because they’re the elders in the family, and the first thing they said was: We’re against all that. They’re only doing biopsies for their own purposes.”
Decades of medical trauma have left their mark on First Nations communities. From reports of experiments performed on the children of the stolen generation to personal experiences of racism, Hall and her family remain wary of Western medicine.
Aaliyah died of a brain tumour at just seven years of age.
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