ABORIGINAL CANCER RESEARCH

We acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation, the traditional owners of the lands where our offices and laboratories are located and pay respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

For the purposes of this webpage, the term Aboriginal is respectfully used in reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to recognise them as the original inhabitants of Australia.

Aboriginal people with cancer experience worse survival outcomes compared to non-Aboriginal people due to several key factors.

Studies on barriers to cancer outcomes in the Aboriginal cancer space have been confined to explorations of geographical, socio-economic, and cultural factors as well as diagnostic delays. Other factors identified through our own community consultations include:

• Awareness of available support services: Many Aboriginal people are not fully informed about the range of support services available to them throughout their cancer journey. Support services includes both medical services and cultural or psychosocial support, all of which can significantly impact survivorship and quality of life. A key challenge is that these services vary significantly by type and location. For example, services that are available in Perth are different to those in Bunbury, and Broome. Aboriginal people are also unsure or uncomfortable approaching some of these services.
• Communication between tertiary and regional medical centres: There is often a breakdown in communication between urban, tertiary medical centres and regional or remote healthcare facilities. This can lead to a lack of adherence to optimal care pathways and treatments, and unsustained follow-up.

So far, it is generally concluded that substantial negative influences on Aboriginal outcomes exist outside these areas, but the nature of these negative influences is unknown. This is the area of unmet need that our research seeks to address.

Further information:

• Impact of cancer on Aboriginal communities
• Our approach to Aboriginal Cancer research
• Aboriginal Cancer research outcomes
• Get involved in Aboriginal Cancer Research
• Our partners

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Aboriginal people in Australia¹. There were 285 new diagnoses of cancer in the Aboriginal population in Western Australia in 2019. The overall age-standardised cancer incidence rate of 587.4 per 100,000 population represents a 42% increase compared to previous (2017) incidence rates.

Between 2015-2019, the 5-year survival rate for all cancers combined among the Aboriginal population was 50.3%, 14.6% lower than the survival rate for non-Aboriginal people.²

¹Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework
²Cancer incidence, mortality and survival in Western Australia, 2019. Department of Health, Perth, Western Australia.

Lead by Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing, we are taking a unique and combinatorial approach to improving outcomes of Aboriginal people with cancer.  Our holistic approach considers the collective impact of clinical, biological and demographical disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Western Australians.

Research in the Aboriginal Cancer Research Group will focus on:

• Aboriginal Breast Cancer
• Aboriginal Lung Cancer
• Aboriginal Head & Neck Cancer
• Aboriginal Bowel Cancer

The objective of the Aboriginal Cancer Research Group is to better understand how cancer presents in Aboriginal communities, and how that might differ from the cancer experience for non-Aboriginal people with cancer.

Our research aims to:

• Implement solutions to improve outcomes by understanding and addressing delays to cancer treatment commencement, appropriateness of therapy prescribed, and treatment completions.
• Optimise care and implement service adaptions for curable or treatable cancer patients who may opt for palliative or low-level treatments because of the geographical limitations to available treatment centres.
• Understand whether adverse biological features of cancers are different among Aboriginal people compared with non-Aboriginal people and adapt treatment accordingly to improve outcomes.
• Establish a pan-cancer Aboriginal multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting system.

Share your experience

We invite Aboriginal community members who are interested in this research to contact us and share their stories, experiences and knowledge. If you have ideas, comments, questions or would like to be involved in this research, please email us.

Work with us

Our team is new, and growing. If you are an Aboriginal student or community member who would like to work with us, please get in touch via this email address.

Collaborate with us

We are open to collaborating locally, nationally and internationally to find and implement solutions that will improve cancer outcomes for Aboriginal and other First Nations peoples. Please get in touch via this email.

We would like to acknowledge these reference groups, service providers and communities for supporting our work in Aboriginal Cancer research.

• Aboriginal Breast Cancer Reference Group (BreastScreen WA) – disbanded
• WA Cancer Collaborative (Cancer Network Western Australia) – recently disbanded
• South West Aboriginal Medical Service
• Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service
• Aboriginal Advisory Panel, East Metropolitan Health Service
• Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia

Our research partners:

• Fiona Stanley Hospital
• South Metropolitan Health Service
• PathWest Laboratories
• Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Edith Cowan University
• The University of Western Australia
• Queensland University of Technology
• Curtin University

Our heartfelt thanks to our funding partners:

• Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research
• The Hospital Research Foundation Group (formerly Spinnaker Health)
• Cancer Council of Western Australia
• Perpetual IMPACT
• WA Cancer Fellowships program, Department of Health