Population Health and Strategic Direction

Centre for Population Health - Projects

Equitable Communities Program

The K@2mba Program

• Katoomba has a 20% greater death rate than would be expected for those less than 80 years old, as compared to the state of NSW as a whole, ranking 33rd out of 530 postcodes.
• Premature death for females in Katoomba in the 25-74-age range (for all mortality causes) is 36% above the rate for NSW and 42% above the state average for men.
• The rate of coronary heart disease experienced by males in Katoomba is 53% above the rate for NSW.
• Hospitalisation for injury and poisoning of females in Katoomba aged 15-24 years is 35% above the rate for NSW.
• Katoomba has the highest rate of asthma of any town or suburb within the old Wentworth area health service for children aged 0-14 years.
• Mental health suffers when social conditions are adverse, Katoomba is the only postcode in the Blue Mountains to have significantly higher rate of mental and behavioural disorders for 15-24 year olds than that of the state average.
• Inequities that exist in the non-indigenous Katoomba population are more pronounced for the indigenous community, social, economic and health outcomes for the indigenous people in Katoomba are poorer.
• Katoomba is home for the largest group of indigenous families in the Blue Mountains.
• Katoomba has an unemployment rate of 9.5% - one of the highest in NSW where the average is 5.3%.
• Katoomba has the highest proportion of Blue Mountains families with children living off household incomes below $399 per week (17.6%), the state average is 13.2%.
• Despite geographical isolation and harsh winter conditions, the percentage of households with no car in Katoomba is 21.4%. The state average is 13.5%.
• The percentage of single parent families for the state and Blue Mountains LGA is 15%. Katoomba is well above this (24.3%) with more than a third of all children (34.1%) living in single parent families.
• In Katoomba the rental stress is 60.9%, the highest in the Area Health Service. This collates to 191 households. (Rental stress is defined as an outlay of 30% or more on rent of net household income. Households with high rent and high income are not comparable with households where rent takes more than 30% of a low income and the remaining 70% has to meet basic needs).
• Individuals in the community are active participants who can influence their own health but their ability to do so is constrained by the social context in which they live (income, education, social stability, employment, social exclusion amongst others constrain efforts to achieve health).
• Considerable investment from all levels of Government, and organisations over the long term, and genuine participation from the community is required in Katoomba to create a more just, inclusive and healthy community.

• Develop key partnerships within Katoomba for implementing the Katoomba Program
• Develop Katoomba Program community & services management, monitoring and accountability structure, including physical location & SOG priority project status for 2005-2006
• Develop & implement a Schools as Community Project in Nth Katoomba
• Develop & implement Men & Boys Health Projects, including (a) Men’s Shed/Community Education & Training, and (b) Transitional Employment initiatives
• Develop an evaluation & research framework that identifies the key components of a Health Place Management approach for replication in other areas of high health inequities
• Model the Health Place Management approach in another area of disadvantage, building on existing partnerships maximising efficiencies and outcomes
• Develop Systems to ensure & sustain ‘ultimate stakeholder’ participation & engagement
• Re-establish community mentoring/leadership group
• Provide Workforce Development for Human Services & Local Government to increase skills and capacity of Program to address issues that effect health inequities
• Development of LGA citywide social indicators, in partnership with Blue Mountains City Council
• Develop a Communication Plan that engages the community & the Katoomba services & puts the Katoomba Program on the agenda

• The Centre for Population Health is a participant and supporter of the Mt Druitt Human Services Plan. The aim of the Mt Druitt Services Plan is to provide direction, focus and accountability to the way human services, in particular state government human services, work together to help build a strong and sustainable Mt Druitt.
• Mt Druitt is located in the local government area (LGA) of Blacktown. Blacktown LGA is ranked 51st of 62 metropolitan LGAs in NSW on the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 1996 Socio-economic Indexes For Areas (SEIFA) Urban Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage (1,2). Blacktown’s relative SEIFA scores are consistently ranked in the lower half of all Areas in NSW, with some suburbs scoring well below the 25th Centile (2).
• Residents of Blacktown LGA are burdened with excess morbidity and mortality when compared to residents of both Western Sydney and NSW as a whole. There are higher rates of premature mortality, of hospitalisations for respiratory and circulatory diseases and of teenage childbirth (2). Smoking rates are 5.6% higher than for NSW as a whole (2).
• Mt Druitt was originally developed, largely by the Department of Housing, in the mid 1960's to late 1970's. Today, around 32% (4,954) of all households in Mount Druitt live in public housing, (in Sydney 6% are tenants) (3).
• Mt Druitt has a relatively young population with high numbers of children and young people (around 46% of the population is aged under 25 years), is home to a large urban population of Aboriginal people (people of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island background comprised 5% of the population) and the largest growing population of Pacific peoples (3).

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1998. Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas Information Paper. ABS Catalogue No 2039.0.
2. Close GR , Fung SC, Chan J, Achat H, 2002. Western Sydney Area Health Service Health Inequality Profile. Centre for Epidemiology, Indicators Research and Evaluation, WSAHS NSW.
3. Urban Planning Consultants, 1999. Mount Druitt Area Action Plan Blacktown City Council, NSW.

• Work collaboratively with Mt Druitt Human Services Group in the development of the Mt Druitt Indicators and Human Services Plan
• Identify supporting indicator data sources, provide data and identify gaps in existing data for Action Plan baseline
• Write and submit project application for national pilot site for Australian Early Development Index to be conducted in Mt Druitt schools
• Advocate for resources to support implementation of the Mt Druitt Human Services Action Plan

• Correctional facilities are important places for health promotion because as a group, inmates bear a disproportionately heavy burden of disease and many have lifestyles that put them at risk of chronic disease, ill health and premature death (1).
• Successful interventions stand to benefit not only inmates and ex-offenders but also their families and communities they come from (1).
• There are nine correctional facilities within the boundaries of the Sydney West Area Health Service.
• Ten of the 42 statistical subdivisions in NSW account for the last known address of over 50% of inmates in full-time custody, Blacktown being one of the 10 areas (2).

• Work in collaboration with Justice Health, Correctional Services & other Health Promotion Directors to scope Health Promotion with this community.
  • Develop tender for scoping paper
  • Conduct a search conference
  • Develop recommendations for future actions.
• Work in collaboration with Justice Health, Correctional Services & other Health Promotion Directors to develop a tobacco control strategy.