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Objectives: To obtain, through a survey, estimates of immunisation coverage in a birth cohort of Indigenous children, and to compare survey estimates with those obtained from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) for the same birth cohort of Indigenous children. Methods: Cluster sampling of a birth cohort of two-year-old Indigenous children across Queensland, stratified according to accessibility/remoteness from services, was undertaken in 2003. An innovative method of identifying participants was used. Survey results of 10 vaccine doses were compared with ACIR data. Results: The survey obtained a 4% sample of the birth cohort (137 children). Universally recommended vaccines showed high levels of coverage at 12 and 24 months, and survey estimates were slightly higher than ACIR estimates. Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine dose 3 (DTPa3) coverage was 93.8% (95% Cl 88.0-99.6) by 12 months on survey and 87.5% on ACIR. Coverage was not timely and a lag phase of 4-6 months occurred for each vaccine dose. Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine dose 2 (Hib2), scheduled for the age of four months, reached 90% coverage by nine months of age in the survey children. Conclusion: Both methods reported here provided similar results. Implications: These data indicate that ACIR Indigenous reporting rates have increased and coverage estimates are comparable to those provided by a survey. Immunisation coverage appears to be high, and the main remaining challenge in further reducing vaccine-preventable disease in Indigenous children is to improve immunisation timeliness.

The qualitative study of social capital within an urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context is reported. The two worlds of social capital available to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people are described by using data collected from 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews collected by Aboriginal community development workers.

In this article, we discuss the ethical positions adopted within universities, by communities and by research funding agencies to negotiate the roles of academics and others in conducting research, identifying mechanisms for community involvement, establishing ongoing consultative procedures, and clarifying areas for enquiry. Within the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, we have adopted different strategies with the various immigrant and Indigenous communities with whom we work. We comment on the difficulties of consultation for this study, given community frustration with government inertia regarding known health problems and given people's skepticism of the value of research. Our varied and evolving relationships with study communities have been influenced by the politics of research, the funding of health programs, the political identity of different communities, and the positioning of research and subject communities. Key words: ethics, health, women; Australia

Community meetings, interviews with key informants, and focus groups were used to document major health concerns and problems among Indigenous women in Queensland, as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. In this article, we analyze understandings of 'community' as used in Australian health research and among Indigenous women. We then examine health issues as identified and experienced by women and explore the gaps that exist between community concerns, individual health status, and service delivery. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressinc.com]