Decolonising primary health care practice: a definition and its importance

Decolonising primary health care (PHC) is essential to improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellbeing. Having a definition of decolonising PHC provides a valuable resource for creating and maintaining culturally safe practices within health policy and health services. We developed such a definition through collaboration between Aboriginal researchers, non-Indigenous researchers, PHC services, health professionals and sector stakeholders. Our definition provides a robust basis for (re)building trust with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through explicit acknowledgement of colonising harms and explicit ways in which these harms can be mitigated. The CONSIDER reporting criteria checklist for health research involving Indigenous peoples1 was completed for this article and can be found in the Supporting Information.