Indigenous Australians want to use cultural medicines more often, but access remains difficult

First Peoples say cultural medicines remain central to health and well-being despite a lack of access. Access to physical medicines (ingested, inhaled and topical) is a top priority, according to new research led by Southern Cross University.

Published in First Nations Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal, the study provides the first Australia-wide, co-designed exploration of First Peoples’ use of, access to and desire to use cultural medicines. The research team set out to understand the role Indigenous communities wanted cultural medicines to play.

The researchers say the findings reframe cultural medicines as a core equity issue rather than a peripheral or ‘alternative’ aspect of care and call for recognition of First Peoples as the original experts in health and healing.

Lead author is Dr. Alana Gall of Southern Cross University’s National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine. “The study found substantial unmet need, shaped not only by geography and service availability but likely by colonization, displacement from Country, disruption of knowledge transmission and the ongoing marginalization of Indigenous knowledge systems within health structures,” said Gall, a proud Truwulway and Litamirimina woman.

“As an Aboriginal person myself, it concerns me that we can learn about, access and use Traditional Chinese Medicine and all these other medicines from across the globe, yet we can’t do the same when it comes to our own medicines.”

A total of 186 First Peoples adults participated, mostly ages 30–49. The majority were women (81.7% female). Respondents were in cities and regional areas across Australia.

Only 9.7% reported easy access to traditional healers, yet more than 94% of those without access indicated that they would use healers if available. Use of ‘Country as medicine’ and smoking ceremonies was most common, while song-based ceremonies, insect-based native foods and traditional healers showed the lowest engagement.

“Taken together, these results reframe cultural medicines as a core equity issue rather than a peripheral or ‘alternative’ aspect of care. Achieving health equity for First Peoples requires more than cultural awareness training or piecemeal inclusion of Indigenous content in existing models; it demands structural change,” said Gall.

Mike Stephens, director of medicines policy and programs at the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization (NACCHO), was a co-author.

The CEO of NACCHO, Dr. Dawn Casey, PSM FAHA, said, “Normalizing cultural medicines does not mean bringing them into the health system on the system’s terms. It means recognizing them as legitimate forms of care, protecting the cultural knowledge that underpins them and supporting their use alongside clinical care.

“Access must be designed and governed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, through ACCHOs, with local knowledge holders and according to community protocols, so people and families can choose care that reflects their culture, including during palliative and end-of-life care,” said Casey.

Providing cultural governance over the work was co-author Aunty Theresa Sainty, a Pakana Elder. “Milaythina (Country) is ‘medicine’ for our people—she is our mother, and we, her children. As we grow, reciprocity is expected. If we care for Ningi Manina (Mother Earth), then she can continue to care for us, her people,” said Sainty.

Professor Catherine Chamberlain is the editor-in-chief of the journal. “At the First Nations Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal, we are pleased to be able to support Indigenous authors to publish articles such as this one, which increase understanding of the use of cultural therapies by Indigenous peoples,” said Professor Chamberlain.

End-of-life care as a priority site

End-of-life care emerged as a critical site for cultural inclusion. While two-thirds of participants wanted cultural medicines for themselves in palliative care, more than 92% wanted their families to access healing ceremonies for grieving.

Gall said family is always at the center of well-being for Indigenous people.

“This finding highlights a strong demand for culturally governed cultural medicines within palliative and bereavement pathways. Cultural shifts are needed across the health system to support all forms of health practitioners to facilitate access to cultural medicines and to create shared spaces of medical and therapeutic plurality.”

Restoring Country and Indigenous knowledge systems

The study found that restoring lands and ecosystems, supporting intergenerational knowledge transfer and protecting Elders as knowledge holders are vital steps and resonate with Indigenous-led work on planetary health that centers justice, culture and relationships with Country as foundations for a self-determined healthy future.

“Barriers to access are inseparable from the health of Country and must be understood as a legacy of colonization—one that continues to restrict First Peoples’ access to Country, cultural knowledges and cultural medicines,” said Gall.

Implications for First Nations, locally and globally

These findings have direct implications for policy and program responses in both Australia and internationally.

“Addressing these gaps is consistent with national commitments such as the Closing the Gap policy agenda in Australia and international policy, particularly that of the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, which speaks to First Peoples’ rights to culturally safe care and to self-determination in health,” said Gall.

“Policy and program responses must therefore be developed in genuine collaboration with, and where possible led by, First Peoples, including deliberate efforts to retrieve, revive and sustain knowledge of cultural medicines in the same way that language revitalization and reclamation have reclaimed and strengthened First Peoples’ languages.”

Who’s behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021.

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Andrew Zinin

Master’s in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X’s editorial success.

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