Association of Built Environmental Features with Rates of Infectious Diseases in Remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, Australia

Amal Chakraborty; Victor Oguoma; Neil T. Coffee; Peter Markey; Alwin Chong; Margaret Cargo; Mark Daniel

doi:10.3390/healthcare10010173

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Association of Built Environmental Features with Rates of Infectious Diseases in Remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, Australia

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Association of Built Environmental Features with Rates of Infectious Diseases in Remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, Australia

Amal Chakraborty, Victor Oguoma, Neil T. Coffee, Peter Markey, Alwin Chong, Margaret Cargo and Mark Daniel

Healthcare , Vol.10(1), pp.1-13

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10010173

PMID: 35052336

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Abstract

built environment

indigenous

communicable diseases

infectious diseases

disease outbreaks

community infrastructure

remote community

spatial epidemiology

public health

The health of Indigenous Australians is far poorer than non-Indigenous Australians, including an excess burden of infectious diseases. The health effect of built environmental (BE) features on Indigenous communities receives little attention. This study's objective was to determine associations between BE features and infectious disease incidence rates in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. Remote Indigenous communities (n = 110) were spatially joined to 93 Indigenous Locations (ILOC). Outcomes data were extracted (NT Notifiable Diseases System) and expressed as ILOC-specific incidence rates. Counts of buildings were extracted from community asset maps and grouped by function. Age-adjusted infectious disease rates were dichotomised, and bivariate binomial regression used to determine the relationships between BE variables and infectious disease. Infrastructure Shelter BE features were universally associated with significantly elevated disease outcomes (relative risk 1.67 to 2.03). Significant associations were observed for Services, Arena, Community, Childcare, Oval, and Sports and recreation BE features. BE groupings associated with disease outcomes were those with communal and/or social design intent or use. Comparable BE groupings without this intent or use did not associate with disease outcomes. While discouraging use of communal BE features during infectious disease outbreaks is a conceptually valid countermeasure, communal activities have additional health benefits themselves, and infectious disease transmission could instead be reduced through repairs to infrastructure, and more infrastructure. This is the first study to examine these associations simultaneously in more than a handful of remote Indigenous communities to illustrate community-level rather than aggregated population-level associations.

Details

Title: Association of Built Environmental Features with Rates of Infectious Diseases in Remote Indigenous Communities in the Northern Territory, Australia
Authors: Amal Chakraborty (Corresponding Author) - Flinders University
Victor Oguoma - University of Canberra
Neil T. Coffee - University of Canberra
Peter Markey - Government of the Northern Territory
Alwin Chong - Arney Chong Consulting (Australia)
Margaret Cargo - University of Canberra
Mark Daniel - University of Canberra
Publication details: Healthcare , Vol.10(1), pp.1-13
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2022
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10010173
ISSN: 2227-9032
PMID: 35052336
Copyright note: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: Not applicable.
Grant note: Funding for A.C. (Amal Chakraborty) was supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. This research was additionally supported by funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant (GNT1051824) awarded to M.D., A.C. (Amal Chakraborty) gratefully acknowledges receiving University of South Australia School of Health Sciences Conference Scholarship; Konrad Jamrozik Student Scholarship, Public Health Association of Australia—South Australia Branch; and SA State Population Health Student Scholarship, Australian Health Promotion Association—South Australia Branch.
Organisation Unit: Thompson Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991120251902621
Output Type: Journal article

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