Pharmacy students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) have returned from a remote part of Australia where they worked on an important project to rid the local Indigenous communities of two common but treatable diseases.

 

The aim of the two year project run by the Menzies School of Health Research is to treat the population of the Elcho Island to the north east of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory for skin mites (scabies) and intestinal worms (Strongylolides stercoralis).

 

Ms Lauren Slater and Ms Clare Smith, from CSU’s Bachelor of Pharmacy program spent nine weeks from the start of the project in April living and working in the Indigenous community of Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island. They were part of a team of local health workers, doctors, nurses and a PhD student.

 

The two-year project centres on the mass drug administration of the local communities for the two diseases as well as the screening of the entire Elcho Island population for scabies and intestinal worms.

 

“The children and adults of Elcho Island were treated with two kinds of medication depending on their weight as well as cream for children with scabies,” third year pharmacy student Ms Smith said.

 

“It was an amazing experience being adopted by a local family and working in such a remote part of Australia. It was obviously quite challenging at times as I had to use a translator as some people speak the Indigenous Yolngu language.”

 

Ms Slater said, “It was a life changing experience living and working in Galiwin'ku. I learnt so much about the community, their way of life, the differences in the provision of health to remote communities and importantly I learnt a lot about myself from being part of this project”

 

“It was definitely challenging at times but the skills and knowledge we gained from our time in Galiwin'ku has made it worthwhile and something I will never forget. Although being adopted by a local family made it a lot easier to work with the community, it also made it that much harder to say goodbye.”

 

As the women returned to complete their four year degree in the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, two more pharmacy students from Orange were flying to Elcho Island to continue their clinical placement.

 

Professor of Remote and Rural Pharmacy at CSU, Patrick Ball said, “This has been an important opportunity for our students to work closely with remote Indigenous communities.

 

“Lauren and Clare have lived with the community, been adopted into families and clearly had an exciting and life-changing experience.  The Doctor in charge of the project has strongly commended the work of the Charles Sturt University students on Elcho Island.”

 

The project, ‘Beating scabies and strongyloidiasis in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory’ is a National Health and Medical Research Council funded community-based study incorporating ivermectin as a mass treatment for scabies (skin mites) and intestinal worms (Strongylolides stercoralis). It is due for completion in 2012.