'Closing the Gap': How maternity services can contribute to reducing poor maternal infant health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

Sue Kildea

qualifications: PhD

contribution: original concept, literature review, wrote the first draft, contributed to drafts

position: Professor of midwifery

Australia

Midwifery, maternity services, Indigenous health, maternal mortality and morbidity

Sue Kruske

qualifications: PhD

contribution: literature review, contributed to drafts

position: Associate professor

Australia

Sue Kruske is currenlty the Associate Professor in Maternal, Child and Family Health at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory, Australia. She is a midwife and child health nurse with clinical, teaching and research experience in maternal, child and cross-cultural health particularly with remote Indigenous communities in Australia. Her primary areas of interest and research are in Australian Aboriginal health, maternal and child health, midwifery, racism and ethnocentrism, working in partnership with women and parents, and cross cultural child rearing practices.

Prof Emer Lesley Barclay

qualifications: AO, PhD

contribution: literature review, contributed to drafts

position: Professor and director

Lesley Barclay (AO PhD) is the foundation Professor of Health Services Development at Charles Darwin University and co directs a new Graduate School of Health Practice. As the Chief Investigator she guided medical and midwifery colleagues in one of the first National Health and Medical Research Council Centres of Clinical Excellence in Research focusing on improvements to maternity services. She is currently leading research into maternity services in China funded by ARC in partnership Chinese colleagues, and on Indigenous birth and systems to support this in Australia. Lesley has led over 30 research projects and been successful with 8 NHMRC and ARC grants in the last decade, supervising more than 30 major research theses to successful completion. Five of her graduates are now in professorial positions. In recent years she has published 3 books, 25 refereed journal articles and 15 major reports for government. Lesley has worked in International development for nearly 20 years, as a technical adviser to governments, AusAID, World Bank and WHO, in provision of primary health car, maternal infant/child health and capacity building in health worker education systems. This work has occurred in Asia, Melanesia and the Pacific Islands. Lesley has also served on a variety of national committees such as the NHMRC Council for two terms and was an inaugural ministerial appointee to the Australian Council for Safety and Quality. She was awarded an AO in 2004 in recognition of her contribution to professional and international developments and child health.

Sally Tracy

qualifications: Doctor of Midwifery

contribution: literature review, contributed to drafts

position: Professor of midwifery