IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i9p1262-d1483928.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Housing Initiatives to Address Strep A Infections and Reduce RHD Risks in Remote Indigenous Communities in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Nina Lansbury

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia)

  • Paul C. Memmott

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia)

  • Rosemary Wyber

    (Yardhura Walani, National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
    The Kids Research Institute, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Clarissa Burgen

    (Barkly Region Community, Tennant Creek, NT 0860, Australia)

  • Samuel K. Barnes

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia)

  • Jessica Daw

    (The Kids Research Institute, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Jeffrey Cannon

    (The Kids Research Institute, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Asha C. Bowen

    (The Kids Research Institute, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
    Perth Children’s Hospital, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Rachel Burgess

    (The Kids Research Institute, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Patricia N. Frank

    (Barkly Region Community, Tennant Creek, NT 0860, Australia)

  • Andrew M. Redmond

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
    Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia)

Abstract

Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) skin infections (impetigo) can contribute to the development of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). This is of particular concern for Indigenous residents of remote communities, where rates of ARF and RHD are much higher than their urban and non-Indigenous counterparts. There are three main potential Strep A transmission pathways: skin to skin, surface to skin, and transmission through the air (via droplets or aerosols). Despite a lack of scientific certainty, the physical environment may be modified to prevent Strep A transmission through environmental health initiatives in the home, identifying a strong role for housing. This research sought to provide an outline of identified household-level environmental health initiatives to reduce or interrupt Strep A transmission along each of these pathways. The identified initiatives addressed the ability to wash bodies and clothes, to increase social distancing through improving the livability of yard spaces, and to increase ventilation in the home. To assist with future pilots and evaluation, an interactive costing tool was developed against each of these initiatives. If introduced and evaluated to be effective, the environmental health initiatives are likely to also interrupt other hygiene-related infections.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Lansbury & Paul C. Memmott & Rosemary Wyber & Clarissa Burgen & Samuel K. Barnes & Jessica Daw & Jeffrey Cannon & Asha C. Bowen & Rachel Burgess & Patricia N. Frank & Andrew M. Redmond, 2024. "Housing Initiatives to Address Strep A Infections and Reduce RHD Risks in Remote Indigenous Communities in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1262-:d:1483928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1262/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1262/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pasqualina M Coffey & Anna P Ralph & Vicki L Krause, 2018. "The role of social determinants of health in the risk and prevention of group A streptococcal infection, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: A systematic review," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Jeffrey C. Standen & Geoffrey G. Morgan & Tim Sowerbutts & Katrina Blazek & Jessica Gugusheff & Otto Puntsag & Michael Wollan & Paul Torzillo, 2020. "Prioritising Housing Maintenance to Improve Health in Indigenous Communities in NSW over 20 years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Shahmir H. Ali & Tim Foster & Nina Lansbury Hall, 2018. "The Relationship between Infectious Diseases and Housing Maintenance in Indigenous Australian Households," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-11, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amal Chakraborty & Natasha J. Howard & Mark Daniel & Alwin Chong & Nicola Slavin & Alex Brown & Margaret Cargo, 2021. "Prioritizing Built Environmental Factors to Tackle Chronic and Infectious Diseases in Remote Northern Territory (NT) Communities of Australia: A Concept Mapping Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Haynes, Emma & Walker, Roz & Mitchell, Alice G. & Katzenellenbogen, Judy & D'Antoine, Heather & Bessarab, Dawn, 2021. "Decolonizing Indigenous health: Generating a productive dialogue to eliminate Rheumatic Heart Disease in Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    3. Jiameng Cui & Xinru Guo & Xin Yuan & Hao Wu & Ge Yu & Biao Li & Changgui Kou, 2022. "Analysis of Rheumatic Heart Disease Mortality in the Chinese Population: A JoinPoint and Age–Period–Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Yigit Aydede & Jan Ditzen, 2022. "Identifying the regional drivers of influenza-like illness in Nova Scotia with dominance analysis," Papers 2212.06684, arXiv.org.
    5. Holly L. Richmond & Joana Tome & Haresh Rochani & Isaac Chun-Hai Fung & Gulzar H. Shah & Jessica S. Schwind, 2020. "The Use of Penalized Regression Analysis to Identify County-Level Demographic and Socioeconomic Variables Predictive of Increased COVID-19 Cumulative Case Rates in the State of Georgia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-12, October.
    6. Camille Le Gal & Michael J. Dale & Margaret Cargo & Mark Daniel, 2020. "Built Environments and Cardiometabolic Morbidity and Mortality in Remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-9, January.
    7. Alex Proshin, 2023. "Impact of Child Subsidies on Child Health, Well-Being, and Investment in Child Human Capital: Evidence from Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey 2010–2017," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-92, December.
    8. Grace W. Lee & Kristina Vine & Amba-Rose Atkinson & Michael Tong & Jo Longman & Alexandra Barratt & Ross Bailie & Sotiris Vardoulakis & Veronica Matthews & Kazi Mizanur Rahman, 2023. "Impacts of Climate Change on Health and Health Services in Northern New South Wales, Australia: A Rapid Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-25, July.
    9. Jeffrey C. Standen & Jessica Spencer & Grace W. Lee & Joe Van Buskirk & Veronica Matthews & Ivan Hanigan & Sinead Boylan & Edward Jegasothy & Matilde Breth-Petersen & Geoffrey G. Morgan, 2022. "Aboriginal Population and Climate Change in Australia: Implications for Health and Adaptation Planning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-30, June.
    10. Tamara Riley & Bonny Cumming & Joanne Thandrayen & Anna Meredith & Neil E. Anderson & Raymond Lovett, 2023. "One Health and Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities: A One Health Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Romany McGuffog & Jamie Bryant & Kade Booth & Felicity Collis & Alex Brown & Jaquelyne T. Hughes & Catherine Chamberlain & Alexandra McGhie & Breanne Hobden & Michelle Kennedy, 2023. "Exploring the Reported Strengths and Limitations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research: A Narrative Review of Intervention Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-21, February.
    12. João Marcello Furtado & Arthur Gustavo Fernandes & Juan Carlos Silva & Sandra Del Pino & Carolina Hommes, 2023. "Indigenous Eye Health in the Americas: The Burden of Vision Impairment and Ocular Diseases," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-14, February.
    13. Emma Haynes & Alice Mitchell & Stephanie Enkel & Rosemary Wyber & Dawn Bessarab, 2020. "Voices behind the Statistics: A Systematic Literature Review of the Lived Experience of Rheumatic Heart Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-25, February.
    14. Nina Lansbury & Andrew M. Redmond & Francis Nona, 2022. "Community-Led Health Initiatives for Torres Straits Island Communities in a Changing Climate: Implementing Core Values for Mitigation and Adaptation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Haynes, Emma & Marawili, Minitja & Marika, Brendan Makungun & Mitchell, Alice G. & Phillips, Jodi & Bessarab, Dawn & Walker, Roz & Cook, Jeff & Ralph, Anna P., 2019. "Community-based participatory action research on rheumatic heart disease in an Australian Aboriginal homeland: Evaluation of the ‘On track watch’ project," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 38-53.
    16. Emma Haynes & Minitja Marawili & Alice Mitchell & Roz Walker & Judith Katzenellenbogen & Dawn Bessarab, 2022. "“Weaving a Mat That We Can All Sit On”: Qualitative Research Approaches for Productive Dialogue in the Intercultural Space," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Anna P. Ralph & Angela Kelly & Anne-Marie Lee & Valerina L. Mungatopi & Segora R. Babui & Nanda Kaji Budhathoki & Vicki Wade & Jessica L. de Dassel & Rosemary Wyber, 2022. "Evaluation of a Community-Led Program for Primordial and Primary Prevention of Rheumatic Fever in Remote Northern Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Katherine Kang & Ken W T Chau & Erin Howell & Mellise Anderson & Simon Smith & Tania J Davis & Greg Starmer & Josh Hanson, 2021. "The temporospatial epidemiology of rheumatic heart disease in Far North Queensland, tropical Australia 1997–2017; impact of socioeconomic status on disease burden, severity and access to care," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, January.
    19. Johnny C. Lorentzen & Gunnar Johanson & Folke Björk & Sofia Stensson, 2022. "Overcrowding and Hazardous Dwelling Condition Characteristics: A Systematic Search and Scoping Review of Relevance for Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-21, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1262-:d:1483928. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.