The 2021 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference – The Gap and Beyond (NATSIEHC) took place on April 20-22. Held via an online platform, and hosted by the Indigenous Eye Health Unit of the University of Melbourne and the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA), the conference brought together over 230 representatives from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, primary care service providers, eye care clinicians, policy makers, researchers, non-government organisations, hospitals, professional peak bodies and government departments from across the country.
The program featured keynote presentations by Professor Marcia Langton AO, Professor Alex Brown (SAHMRI), Ricky Miller-Segura and Mark Yettica-Paulson, and included plenary sessions, interactive workshops, posters and tabletop presentations aimed to highlight and advance the collective work of the Indigenous eye health sector towards the shared goal of improving eye health access and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
The conference organisers also facilitated online campfire and networking sessions to provide opportunities for attendees to meet and explore areas of common interest and focus.
NATSIEHC showcased the fantastic individual and collective work of many individuals and organisations working in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health sector, and also highlighted the challenges that remain in addressing and moving beyond “the gap”.