First Nations Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal PDF

First Nations* Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal is the official journal of the Lowitja Institute, Australia’s first community-controlled research institute. It is a community-controlled, international, community member, inter- and multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed open access journal that is dedicated to expanding access to First Nations research and improve the health and wellbeing of First Nations communities around the world. We focus on primary research papers, systematic reviews, and informed short reports and community contributions on all aspects of the science, culture, philosophy and practice regarding health and wellbeing for First Nations communities.

All papers must include substantive contributions of First Nations authors and will be peer reviewed by experts in the field of the submitted work. While we are based in Australia and governed by the Australian National Health Leadership Forum, our Editorial Board is international and we welcome papers from First Nations researchers from all over the world, reflecting our global perspective and reach.

We recognise that structured knowledge systems of First Nations Peoples, developed over millennia to underpin thriving and healthy communities, offer solutions to the survival and flourishing of our people. Despite targeted settler-colonial policies and practices to dismantle control or eliminate First Nations knowledge, leaving a legacy of entrenched disadvantage and health inequities, we are resisting colonisation. The resurgence of First Nations knowledge of health and wellbeing is best placed in journals that are led by, and determined by First Nations Peoples and their communities.

Specific topic areas include: social and cultural determinants of health, medicine, epidemiology, medical anthropology and sociology, medical history, Indigenous data governance, healthcare delivery, evaluation of programs, maternal and child health, diseases and infections, Closing the Gap and policy directions in health, poverty, racism, disabilities, LGBTQI+, Two Spirit, Takatãpui; climate change, decolonisation, capacity building and training, addictions, alcohol and substance abuse, suicide and self-harm, intimate-partner violence, sexual violence, child protection issues and stolen generations. This is not an exhaustive list, and the editors will consider articles on any issue relating to First Nations wellbeing.

Our readers include community members, academics, educators, practitioners/clinicians, policy-makers, decision-makers and researchers with an interest in the health and wellbeing of First Nations communities.

*We use the term ‘First Nations’ to refer to any Indigenous or ‘First People’s’ inhabiting or existing in a land from the earliest of times or before the arrival of colonists. This was chosen by consensus of the representative Australian National Health Leadership Forum Board, and is used with the deepest respect for the autonomy and diversity of nations represented within this broadly inclusive term.

Volume 1: 2023