By Johanna Griggs AM

Since 2017, our incredible supporters have donated nearly 1000 pieces of equipment for 72 hospitals and health services in the Northern Territory. 

There are literally tens of thousands of mums, dads, and extended family members who have sat through the worst times of their lives and taken comfort from seeing Humpty’s little yellow stickers on the side of machinery that has helped give their babies the best chance of an optimal health outcome, proudly displaying the names of businesses or individuals who recognise the unique challenges that life in the Territory can bring. 

But what does that really mean? We know there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in this wild, rugged, expansive part of the world, and a huge opportunity to continue to affect change. 

To get a better understanding, I spent time with dynamo Dr Kiarna Brown – a proud Gurindji and Wuthathi woman who grew up in Darwin, and whose education and work have taken her to Ballarat, Melbourne, Perth, Townsville, Brisbane, and Tasmania, before coming home to Darwin. She is a clinical researcher at the Menzies School of Health Research and a First Nations obstetrician who is part of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance. 

Coming home to Darwin is something she is unbelievably passionate about. Dr Brown had the following to say about her work: 

‘I really want to contribute to change right here in our community. For me, it’s about every baby across the Territory having the same perfect start to life, on par with everybody else around the country. 

I start my week at Menzies dreaming of the really big picture changes that we may be able to one day facilitate… and then I spend the next couple of days getting stuck into my clinical work. In the health service, I’m so focused on getting things done, facilitating the best care possible, keeping services running. Once a week I’m in the antenatal clinic, being visited by all these beautiful, beautiful women from remote communities, coming to Darwin for pregnancy care. Then, I’m on call for our birthing suite or in the operating theatre, and by Friday…. I go back to Menzies and stop and think – wow what have I seen and learned this week? All my work – combining the research projects with the clinical work – complements each other.'

We know that preterm births are the biggest challenge for children under five years of age worldwide, and that the preterm birth rate (babies born before 37 weeks) across Australia has steadily remained about 8%. But in the Northern Territory in 2021 – 9% percent of births were preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation). The proportion of preterm babies born to Aboriginal mothers was more than double that of preterm babies born to non-Aboriginal mothers (15% and 6%, respectively), with variations depending on where those women live geographically. Dr Brown said, ‘when you live and work up here in the NT, you soon realise you just have to think outside the box.

Dr Brown and colleagues at the Preterm Birth Prevention ‘See, Stop, Scan’ campaign which empowers First Nations mothers through better engagement with healthcare providers

It’s like nowhere else in the country. What people have access to in remote communities can be really challenging to understand until you’ve been there and experienced it for yourself.

Some services I visit lack basic equipment, such as access to blood pressure machines, or in some cases not even an appropriate examination bed. Then, think about the difficulty and cost of travel, what people have access to buy at the shops, and how much it will cost. There’s a lot to consider when you are advising people to be healthier. It’s not always so simple. So, all of the things we learn in big hospitals in big cities when we are training to be doctors, and all that we learn from the textbooks, when you come to the territory, in some ways you have to kind of throw some of your manuals away and consider different ways of doing things.' 

Roughly 30% of women who give birth in Darwin are from regional and remote communities, so when they have complications with their pregnancies it can mean extreme upheaval in their lives.

‘Having those women leave their homes, their country, their support networks and everything they know and feel comfortable with, to come to somewhere new, can often feel unsafe and unsupported', Dr Brown explained. 

'These women generally have limited access to transport, and no way to earn money often for weeks or sometimes months at a time. Even something simple such as getting a scan early in their pregnancy to ensure the dates are accurate, means they have to leave home. Travel can take a whole day, and they might need to stay a night or two before they can get home to their families again. I know there are things we can do to improve that, and to be honest, we have to always do better in supporting women and helping them to feel safe and well cared for. I do my best to partner with women, empowering them to engage with their health services and drive decision making, working together to find solutions, when it all feels incredibly overwhelming.’ To our Humpty supporters she has a simple message: 

‘Please just keep supporting us. Every little bit can make a big difference, much more than you may realise. You’d be amazed at even what a small piece of equipment can do – the impact it can have for families and in giving babies the best possible start in life.’

Another heartwarming photo from the SCAN campaign