Long covid in Indigenous communities ‘needs attention’
The impact of long COVID on Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory is poorly understood, and more needs to be done to improve diagnosis, treatment and support, a new report has said.
Dr Andrew Nguyen, a public health registrar and infectious diseases physician at Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory said Long Covid may have disappeared from the news, but it was still a major concern.
Writing in Croakey Health media on croaky.org, Dr Nguyen said symptoms can persist for months – or even years.
“For some, these symptoms are disabling and impact work, mobility, family life and participation in community,” he wrote.
“Despite this scale, long COVID remains under-recognised, under-diagnosed and under-resourced. And nowhere is that more evident – or more concerning – than in the Northern Territory.
Aboriginal people in remote and very remote areas have higher mortality rates from COVID-19.
“In a recent briefing to NT health practitioners, I emphasised that we simply do not know the true burden of long COVID among Aboriginal people.
“The NT remains the only jurisdiction that has never established a dedicated long COVID clinic or services. Without diagnostic access, conditions remain invisible. Without visibility, there is no data. And without data, it is difficult to respond.”
Dr Nguyen said symptoms could present differently, especially on a background of multiple medical conditions as experienced by many Aboriginal people.
Lack of data
“Aboriginal people in the NT experience disproportionately high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, chronic kidney disease and respiratory illness,”he said.
“We already know that Aboriginal people in remote and very remote areas have higher mortality rates from COVID-19 (3.6 times higher than the national rate) than Aboriginal people in city regions (1.4 higher than the national rate).
“However, nationally, and in the NT, there is a lack of data on long COVID in Aboriginal people.”
Dr Nguyen said communities require accessible information in their language that is “culturally appropriate”.
