NT Health worker Ilija Jacobs highlights Indigenous health inequality on Close the Gap Day

A NT Aboriginal health worker has highlighted the urgent need to improve Indigenous health outcomes as Australia marks Close the Gap Day today

A NORTHERN Territory Aboriginal health worker has highlighted the urgent need to improve Indigenous health outcomes as Australia marks Close the Gap Day today.

NT Health Aboriginal mental health worker Ilija Jacobs, a Noongar man who has lived in the NT since 2001, is one of a large number of Indigenous people working to improve outcomes in the Territory healthcare system.

Last month he became a qualified Aboriginal Health Practitioner – and the first one on the NT Health Forensic Mental Health team – to better help Indigenous Territorians.

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NT Health Aboriginal mental health worker Ilija Jacobs, who recently became a qualified Aboriginal Health Practitioner with NT Health. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

Mr Jacobs said after seeing members of his own family suffer from chronic disease and die young, improving health outcomes for Indigenous people was a cause “close to (his) heart”.

“(Close the Gap Day) is a wonderful opportunity to show the rest of the nation there is a gap and there are health issues that Indigenous mob struggle with, and it’s cutting their lives short, a lot shorter than non-Indigenous mob,” he said.

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“It’s a good opportunity to really put out (the message) into government organisations to bring about change in policy … to try and close that gap and see Indigenous mob living longer,” he said.

Close the Gap Day is an annual national event to raise awareness of Indigenous health inequality in Australia.

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