Cancer care

Cancer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Queensland are much worse than those for most other residents.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

Reducing these cancer inequities is important in making progress towards closing the gap in life expectancy.

The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health led consultations to develop a framework to guide services and programs to improve this situation. Queensland Health and Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council worked together to produce Achieving health equity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

This framework sets out the goals to have easy-to-access and culturally safe care. This includes prevention, finding cancer early and treatment that meet the needs of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders from 2024 until 2034.

As a companion to our Queensland Cancer Strategy 2024, the framework focuses on these 4 areas:

• culturally safe workforce
• prevention and early detection
• cancer awareness and understanding
• optimal cancer care.

Read this framework Achieving health equity in cancer care with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders (PDF 8819 kB).