“This IPA, it’s the best medicine… it’s going back to country.” – Margaret Nungarrayi Martin, Northern Tanami IPA
Working on country is proving to have a strong influence on the health of people engaged in Indigenous Protected Area and Indigenous ranger programs, with 70 per cent of projects reporting an improvement in the health and overall wellbeing of their rangers.
Indicators include reduced heart and kidney disease, reduced alcohol and substance abuse, structured mental health support, and better nutrition.
Peer reviewed medical research has identified that Ranger and IPA workers have significantly improved health outcomes on key ‘health gap’ measures such as, Lower Body Mass Index, Less abdominal obesity, Less Diabetes, Lower blood pressure, Higher ‘good’ cholesterol levels, Lower psychological distress ratings, Lower Cardio Vascular Disease risk, Lower renal (kidney) disease. The article in the link below is from the Medical Journal of Australia and apllied sophisticated analyses controlling for other influences. Read the research article here
Read how Ranger work helped to significantly reduce alcohol related problems and generated other benefits in a group of Western Australian communities.