Indigenous concepts of health and wellbeing prioritise and emphasise wellness, harmony and balance rather than illness and symptom reduction.
Society must recognise, and utilise, the Indigenous holistic view of health and wellbeing that incorporates the physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, social and environmental.
Connections between the individual and their community, traditional lands, family and kin, ancestors and the spiritual dimension of existence are important for wellbeing.
11. Understanding Risk Factors
Society must recognise the broad range of problems that influence Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing, e.g. unresolved grief and loss, trauma and abuse, domestic violence, removal from family, substance use problems, family breakdown, cultural dislocation, racism and discrimination, and social disadvantage. Society must tackle these problems that underlie poor health and wellbeing.
12. Recognition of Human Rights
Recognition of their Human Rights is fundamental to improving the health circumstances of Indigenous peoples (cf. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, UN 2007).
Society must ensure that Indigenous peoples have full and effective participation in decisions that directly or indirectly affect their lives. Their wellbeing is tied to their collective rights, such as rights to land and cultural practices, and maintenance and application of traditional knowledge.