Background:

Indigenous life expectancy can be 20 years less than that of other Australians and the incidence of kidney failure is 50 times the national average. Diabetes is three times more common among Indigenous people and diet can play a big part in prevention.The Jimmy Little Foundation developed the Thumbs up! program to promote healthy living and deliver preventative education projects that spread the message far and wide across the land that good tucker leads to a long life.

Methods:

Community Engagement - The key to our successful delivery of programs is community consultation. The Foundation has two Indigenous Community Project Officers who attend community meetings with Elders and other key stakeholders in community.

School Music Workshops-The Thumbs Up! Schools Program workshops raises awareness among children and their families about the importance of healthy foods and eating. We facilitate an innovative combination of song writing and recording, video production and nutritional education activities.

Cooking Demonstrations and Community Events-The Jimmy Little Foundation hosts community cook ups, distributing a range of healthy and delicious family and budget friendly recipes.

Stores Program and Health Food Seal Our 'Healthy Food Seal' signage points store customers to shelves stock lean meat, fruit, vegetables and water.

Healthy Lifestyle Website The Thumbs Up! Healthy Lifestyle Education Resource for teachers, students and schools is available free of charge and was developed in partnership with the NT Department of Education and Training. www.thumbsup.org.au.

 Conclusions/implications:

The program has been successfully evaluated by the CRC for Aboriginal Health ( now the Lowitja Institute) and also to acquit a substantial grant from Medicines Australia. Governance and Accountability are paramount with the Foundation. Community members share their experiences on our website and store groups share sales data with us with results showing an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption following a Thumbs up! visit. It is an increasing challenge to maintain this chronic disease prevention initiative as the current Federal Government has not shown its willingness to continue backing these kinds of programs.