Aboriginal health
While Canada, the United States and New Zealand have managed to lift the health standards in their indigenous communities since the 1980s, Australian Aboriginal people suffer a worsening health crisis as these statistics show.
Selected statistics
- 2..3
- Aboriginal infant mortality rate compared to other Australians. 80% die under the age of one.
- 3
- Aboriginal death rate compared to the total Australian population.
- 1.95
- Rate at which Aboriginal people are hospitalised compared to non-Indigenous people.
- 125
- Number of Indigenous doctors practicing in Australia, compared to 60,000 non-Aboriginal doctors [13].
- 44%
- Percentage of adult (15-plus) Aboriginal people reporting 'excellent' or 'very good' health in 2008, unchanged from 2002 [20].
- 76%
- Percentage of Indigenous infants (aged 0-3 years) who were breast-fed in 2008 [20].
- 36
- Times higher: The likelihood that sexually transmitted Gonorrhoea is prevalent in Aboriginal communities, compared to other communities [17].
- 30
- Times higher: The likelihood that Aboriginal children suffer from anaemia and malnutrition due to iron deficiencies, compared to non-Aboriginal children [14].
- 7..12
- Times higher: The probability that 25-34 year-old Aboriginal Australians die from heart disease, compared to non-Aboriginal Australians [11].
- 25%
- Percentage of Aboriginal people who reported having used an illicit substance in the last 12 months (stable rate between 2002 and 2008) [9].
- 1.6
- Times higher: The probability that Aboriginal people have recently used cannabis, compared to non-Aboriginal people [6].
- 0.8%
- Percentage of the overall Federal health expenditure in 2009 which was spent on Aboriginal health [24].
- 30%
- Percentage of adults in Aboriginal communities suffering from type-2 diabetes [3].
- 13%
- Number of Indigenous homes having functioning water, waste, cooking and cleaning facilities (of 4,000 Indigenous homes surveyed during 1998-1999 in the Northern Territory).
- 6.5
- Times higher: The likelihood that an Aboriginal youth aged 15 to 24 as a sexually transmitted infection, compared to non-Aboriginal youth [1].
- 60%
- Percentage Aboriginal people are more likely to die from all cancer types than non-Indigenous people [8]. Cancer is the second leading cause of death for Aboriginal people.
- 6
- Times higher: The probability of sexually transmitted Chlamydia in Aboriginal communities, compared to other communities [17].
- 5%
- Percentage of clients of disability services in 2008/9 who were Aboriginal. Same figure for the NT: 50% [7].
- 83%
- Percentage of Aboriginal children in the NT who had some decayed, missing or filled teeth. Average waiting time between referral and receipt of service: just over 14 months [12].
List of linked articles
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Successful Aboriginal health services
Aboriginal health support services can be successful - the key is to let communities manage their affairs. Read about Australia’s first two Aboriginal health services.
Successful Aboriginal health services
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Mental health and Aboriginal people
Mental health statistics show Aboriginal people are much more likely to suffer from dementia than other Australians.
But mental health is worst where you wouldn’t expect it to be.
Mental health and Aboriginal people
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Traditional Aboriginal health care
Traditional medicine has been used successfully for generations—can it still have a place today?
Traditional Aboriginal health care
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Aboriginal sexual abuse
Aboriginal communities and families are collapsing. It affects Aboriginal children and teenagers’ sexual health and drags them into a vicious circle of abuse.
Aboriginal sexual abuse
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Aboriginal mothers and children
Aboriginal mothers are younger and rarely give birth in private hospitals. Their babies are likely to be born prematurely and have low birth weight.
Aboriginal mothers and children
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Diabetes at crisis levels in Australia
Diabetes, a preventable disease, affects up to 30% of Aboriginal people. It is caused by economic and social factors.
Experts talk of Generation Y becoming a “Generation D”.
Diabetes at crisis levels in Australia
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Challenge: Eat healthy food in communities
Many Aboriginal meals are unhealthy because remote community stores charge up to 3 times the price of food in cities.
Solutions include licensing stores, making sure children eat their healthy food—or setting up a pool.
Challenge: Eat healthy food in communities
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Aboriginal smoking: a serious health problem
From a history of being paid with tobacco, smoking rates in Aboriginal communities range anywhere between over 40% to up to 80%, posing a serious health threat.
Many Aboriginal mothers smoke during pregnancy.
Although it takes your body up to 15 years to fully recover from smoking, Aboriginal people are less likely to quit.
Aboriginal smoking: a serious health problem
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Aboriginal life expectancy
Aboriginal health standards in Australia are now so low that almost half of Aboriginal men and over a third of women die before they turn 45.
Aboriginal life expectancy is more than 10 years below that of the average non-Aboriginal Australian.
Aboriginal life expectancy
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Ear health and hearing loss
10 times more Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal people suffer from ear diseases and hearing loss, most of them children. Aboriginal ear and hearing health is in crisis.
Ear health and hearing loss
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How Aboriginal people use health services
More money is spent for each Aboriginal person than for each non-Aboriginal person, but Aboriginal people use Australia’s health system differently than non-Aboriginal people.
How Aboriginal people use health services
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Kidney disease among Aboriginal people
When kidneys fail, Aboriginal people are more likely to get dialysis treatment than a transplant.
Kidney disease among Aboriginal people
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Aboriginal sexual health
Sexual health practices for Aboriginal people need to be customised to match their culture. Condoman and the Aboriginal condom brand Snake are successful examples of such tailored approaches.
Transgender Aboriginal people are among the most marginalised groups in Australia.
Aboriginal sexual health
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Trachoma & eye health
Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that can lead to blindness. As it is easily treated with antibiotics, trachoma is regarded as a disease of poverty and is now unknown in developed countries—except Australia.
Children are the most susceptible to this disease.
Trachoma & eye health
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Hospitals, doctors, health & Aboriginal people
Simple changes to hospital and doctor’s wards make Aboriginal people feel at ease and improve their chances of recovery dramatically.
Hospitals, doctors, health & Aboriginal people
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Petrol sniffing
Petrol sniffing is a major problem in Aboriginal communities across four Australian states. It destroys health and families.
The introduction of a “non-sniffable” petrol variety has greatly reduced, but not ended sniffing. Addicts are now changing to glue, seen by many as even more dangerous.
Petrol sniffing
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Aboriginal alcohol consumption
Traditionally Aboriginal people consumed weak alcohol made from various plants. Their problems with alcohol began with the white invasion.
Contrary to public perception surveys have in fact found that proportionally fewer Aboriginal people drink alcohol than whites do.
Media tend to get the facts wrong, ignoring efforts by communities to get dry and reinforcing stereotyping.
Aboriginal alcohol consumption
List of short articles
To us, health is about so much more than simply not being sick. It's about getting a balance between physical, mental, emotional, cultural and spiritual health. Health and healing are interwoven, which means that one can't be separated from the other.—Dr Tamara Mackean, Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association [13]
Australia is the only place on the planet where Indigenous health and wellbeing are going backwards.—Sydney Morning Herald [18]
Hepatitis
Hepatitis cartoon. The Transmission Magazine is published by independent charity Hepatitis NSW. It targets Aboriginal people by using tailored cartoons mixed with informative pages [25].
- 8.3%
- Number of Aboriginal Australians suffering from chronic hepatitis B and C. Same figure for non-Aboriginal people: 1.8% [5].
Aboriginal people make up 2.5% of Australia’s population yet they are 8% of the hepatitis C population [5], a figure which could be far higher considering that many people have not been tested and could have the virus.
Less than 2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people access treatment, and if they suffer from other diseases the barrier to seek treatment is even higher. Few of them know that hepatitis B and C could be managed and hepatitis C can be cured.
Fact Hepatitis B was first diagnosed in an Aboriginal person in 1964 [5].
For more information visit Hepatitis NSW or call the Hepatitis Helpline on 02-9332 1599 (Sydney), 1800 803 990 (NSW) or 1800 648 491 (QLD).
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is among the leading causes of death for Aboriginal people.
Almost 12% of Aboriginal people have a long-term heart or related condition, and the number of deaths from CVD is more than 3 times that of non-Aboriginal Australians [21]. The disease contributes to about one third of the life-expectancy gap.
The higher prevalence is attributed to a range of risk factors such as smoking and poor nutrition, but also socio-social factors such as social isolation and depression.
Heart disease mostly affects relatively young Aboriginal people aged between 15 and 29 [23].
Dental health
Can you believe that in the mid-1960s Aboriginal children had far better oral health than non-Aboriginal children? Today the opposite it true: Aboriginal children now have more than double the rate of dental disease as other children.[28]
Rates of dental decay in remote Aboriginal communities are often worse than 70% [10]. A 5-year study of children under 10 found that 78% of Aboriginal children had dental disease, compared with only half of other kids [4].
Such poor health is caused by a lack of fluoride in water supplies and poor diet, according to Prof Kaye Roberts-Thompson, a spokesperson for the Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare. A study suggests that socio-economic disadvantage is also playing a role [4].
“Historical factors such as forced familial separation, efforts of assimilation, on-going problems with alcohol, domestic abuse and land ownership issues… also play important roles,” the study says.
Many communities also have limited access to dental services, and children are not taught good oral hygiene.
Of children aged 12, nearly half had a history of dental decay in the permanent teeth [10]. The average number of decayed, missing and filled teeth was 1.1.
Dental problems often lead to tooth loss, difficulties with eating, problems with speech and infections that spread to other parts of the body [4]. They can also cause extreme pain that disrupts sleep, and damages concentration and self-esteem.
Disabled Aboriginal people
Aboriginal people with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged in Australian society and often face multiple barriers to meaningful participation in the community, Damian Griffis, Executive Officer of the First Peoples Disability Network, says [19].
50% of Aboriginal people have some form of disability or long term health condition.
“The prevalence of disability amongst Indigenous Australians is significantly higher, approximately twice that of the non-Indigenous population.
“This occurs for a range of social reasons, including poor health care, poor nutrition, exposure to violence and psychological trauma and substance abuse, as well as the breakdown of traditional community structures in some areas. Often this is the impact of removal from family and community.
“Indigenous Australians with disability are significantly over-represented on a population group basis among homeless people, in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and in the care and protection system (both as parents and children).”
“Most Indigenous Australians with disabilities remain at the periphery of the disability service system,” Damian says. Many are reluctant to identify as people with disability due to how Aboriginal culture views disability.
“Culturally, our people treat disability and impairment as a part of life, a part of our community and just get on with it. In other words, it is not always an obvious step to seek out help and support from outside family networks.”
Singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is a prominent disabled Aboriginal person.
Drugs & dealers in Aboriginal communities
The use of methampethamine, or ice, in some communities has reached “epidemic proportions” and is at a “crisis point”, with children as young as 12 being exposed to the drug [16].
People in Aboriginal communities inject predominantly amphetamine-based drugs, whereas heroin is more prevalent among non-Aboriginal drug users. [27]
Dealers have been targeting Aboriginal youths who have an income through jobs. They sell them large amounts of ice, knowing the youths will rack up large debts, which their families need to pay.
“Ice is a huge problem in our community,” says Andrew Jackomos, Victoria’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Youth [16].
If health services don’t address the crisis, HIV and hepatitis C could rapidly escalate in communities. [27]
Injecting is a major problem in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.—Dr James Ward, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute [27]
Scabies ‘normal’ in communities
Scabies, a microscopic mite, is estimated to infest more than two-thirds of children in remote communities in their first year of life [22]. Up to 70% of all children are affected, and the infection can lead to sepsis, rheumatic fever, acute kidney disease and rheumatic heart disease.[28]
It causes an itch that can expose them to bacterial infection and ultimately to lethal rheumatic heart disease. About 18 people die of the disease each year in the Northern Territory.
Scabies and skin sores are to common that they are often considered normal [in communities],” says Prof Jonathan Carapetis, head of Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin [22].
Worryingly, crusted scabies is of particular concern, an extremely contagious infection where people are infested with thousands of mites compared with a more usual infection where a person might about 10 mites. Left untreated, around half of people with crusted scabies die within five years.[28]
To break the cycle of infestation would require medical treatment as well as changing housing, hygiene and behaviour. Such changes have to come from communities themselves to be effective.
Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death for Australian children aged one to 14 years. Interestingly, Aboriginal children are 36% less likely to be diagnosed with cancer than non-Aboriginal children [15]. Mortality rates are about the same.
Leukemias and tumours of the central nervous system were the most common cancers among Aboriginal children.
Head and neck cancers in Aboriginal people are as prevalent as in non-Aboriginal people, but more than twice as likely to be diagnosed at a later stage than non-Aboriginal people [26]. Differences are less for other types of cancer.
One reason might be that many Aboriginal people are reluctant to visit their doctor or hospital, especially if it is not making them feel welcome.
Cancer Australia has developed a guide about lung cancer specifically for Aboriginal people.
Can you answer?
Question: Why are Aboriginal cancer rates 8% lower than those of other Australians (19%)?
Answer:
Because Aboriginal people die young from other causes [2].
More resources
The HealthInfoNet website is an award-winning resource translating knowledge and academic literature for Aboriginal health workers in Australia.
The site was started in 1997. Visit www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au for more information.