Promoting health and wellbeing in remote communities

Menzies HealthLAB staff showing fat and muscle replicas to a student from Jilkminggan Primary School on excursion at Bitter Springs as part of National Science Week
Menzies HealthLAB staff showing fat and muscle replicas to a student from Jilkminggan Primary School on excursion at Bitter Springs as part of National Science Week

Northern Territory’s transmission and distribution company is helping educate locals about positive lifestyle choices to reduce their risk of developing a chronic disease.

Power and Water has partnered with HealthLAB, a project run by Menzies School of Health Research. The HealthLAB project is an interactive pop-up mobile laboratory that visits urban, rural and remote public spaces, schools and Indigenous communities. The laboratory provides an innovative educational experience about how risk factors such as smoking and poor nutrition affect the body and contribute to the development of chronic diseases.

Participants measure their health biomedical risk factors using modern technology provided by HealthLAB and trained staff then explain the test results and health implications in detail.

As part of National Science Week, HealthLAB visited Bathurst Island, Mataranka, Katherine and Batchelor to encourage people to think about their health and wellbeing and make better choices for their health now, in the future and for future generations.

HealthLAB is also facilitating health and wellbeing sessions with young Indigenous students from remote communities at the Michael Long Learning and Leadership Centre (MLLLC), of which Power and Water is a long term partner.

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